ref. to a cycle or loop where the output of one step becomes the input for the next

In Jonas Tiniu and Sharon Macdonald’s essay “The Recursivity of the Curatorial” the definition of the word is defined in opposition with ‘reflexivity’: “Reflexivity refers to reflection on one’s own position, and in our research contexts could indicate anthropologists coming to new understandings of themselves through reflecting on others, or other people thinking about anthropologists and thus coming to understanding themselves. Recursivity, however, is about a “recursive sequence of revelation” in which the relation between two perspectives «is constantly redefining the partners in the exchange, the objects of exchange, and the very concept of exchange» (Sansi 2018: 123). As such, recursivity is performative and implies action. It refers to an ongoing mutually-affecting relationality between things, people, thoughts, and forms of knowledge. This is not just a combination of reflexive processes but the generation of something new (…)”

In collectives, this recursivity helps in better understanding the true vulnerabilities of interaction. It is not in the end, that we cannot really understand the Other, as Stanisław Lem would argue over and over again in his novels, is that we keep changing both ourselves and the Other in the process. While inevitable to a point, it really matters how these transformations occur.