Animism and Sentient Spaces

I realized I actually use animism a lot in my previous animations:

(Example of an animation i made the previous year that experimented with animism)

This time I wanted to blur the line between sentient and non-sentient even further so I chose not to give Talko eyes at all:

The idea of sentient spaces was slightly confusing to me, are they alive or not? and if so are they capable of sentient thought? In the end, I chose to make the space harmonious with the character, emphasing and exaggerating its actions (like the emotion garden in Coraline):