From Indigenous Philosophy to Creative Practice: Translating Balinese Tri Hita Karana into Animation Design

Abstract

 This study examines how indigenous philosophy can be engaged in digital animation beyond its role as representational content. Using the Tenggala animation as a case study, it explores how Tri Hita Karana and the indigenous Subak system are translated into a narrative form for younger audiences immersed in digital environments. Rather than presenting philosophy explicitly, the animation reveals cultural knowledge through storytelling, sequencing, and interaction, beginning with social and ritual contexts before moving into technical practice. The tenggala functions as an experiential entry point through which relational and philosophical dimensions gradually unfold. The study proposes a framework of layered cultural translation, in which philosophical, social, and material dimensions are selectively redistributed across narrative structure and embodied experience. In this process, storytelling operates as a mechanism for reorienting attention, enabling cultural knowledge to emerge through engagement rather than explanation. By framing animation as a form of epistemic design, the study argues that digital media do not transfer knowledge as content, but reconfigure how it is encountered. While such translation remains partial and mediated, the findings offer a model for integrating indigenous knowledge into digital creative practice through relational and experiential design.