images + videos
concept text
In the generative video installation visitors can interact with a simulation of the acellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum. It explores possibilities of mapping a terrain using the spatial logic and foraging behaviour of this organism who naturally lives in dark and humid environments.
Slime moulds belong to the oldest species on earth not having undergone evolution and thus proving to be best adapted to its environment and needs. Their cell structure and muscle memory is thought to be a primitive form for what later became to be a brain. According to Shaviro (Discognition 2015) mental activity is always embodied and grounded in a specific medium. Its foraging behaviour can be seen as a “prosthetic use” of external (spatial) memory traces. Latty and Beekman (Slime moulds use heuristics 2010) go even further stating that the entire organism seems to be acting “as a brain” in its environment.
In the video, ever changing networks of the organism form poetic landscapes. They reassemble mycelium networks or bacteria colonies and want to offer a way to connect with simple life forms.
exhibitions
re:publica Berlin, Fablab Area // May 2017
Dark Habitats, Spektrum Berlin, curated by Alfredo Ciannameo // June 2017
Emotion + the Tech(no)body, Unconscious Archives Festival, Austrian Cultural Forum London, curated by Sally Golding // Sep - Nov 2017
credits
Artists: Theresa Schubert
Tech collaborator: Falk Röder