GMU:If the organism will not come to me, I will go to the organism/Kristin Jakubek: Difference between revisions

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== Idea ==
I plan for my interaction with Physarum polychefalum to manifest in a sculpture that connects the organism's natural habitat (a place it exist freely) with the life lead in sterilised human captivity (alien environment). This sculpture will be based on a formstudie between trees (PP natural habitat) and the human body.


To this end I will try to implement a nutrient Agar that provides a feeding base more align with the natural habitat and would allow me to retreat my human care in the form 'feeding it' (also allowing the natural structure to be unobstructed and visible). Paradoxically, I will try to harness some control over it's visual appearance/structures to ensure a desired visual outcome as part of the sculptural installation to be observed by an audience.


== Concept ==


== Thoughts and planned conduct ==
The ‘Body Habitat’ project, as a media-artistic-scientific examination of non-human forms of life, explores and translates the artistic work with a vital organism and its habitat into a living sculpture.


What continues to intrigue me about Physarum is it's changing structure as it is artificially kept in a 'perpetual state of living'. I am primarily interested in the things I can observe myself. As a form of interaction with the unicellular organism I want to harness some control over shaping what these structures look like by analysing my method of inoculation and recreating the same conditions several times. This will investigate the question whether my human influence can manifest on a repeatable visual level or whether - as I suspect - much of how the organism takes shape is related to conditions like air quality, humidity, temperature which will vary in degrees I cannot control in my 'home studio'.
The organic starting point of the project is the genus of the slime mold (Mycetozoa), specifically: Physarum polycephalum.


I have instead witnessed - presumably due to my inoculating of PP which is already climbing out of the petri-dish - what I would describe as the 'rejection of ones own body'. It seems that the plasmodium reaches a point after which certain parts of the body are too old to fully re-incorporate and are rejected as a blob like mass on which fresh Physarum grows. The blob instead can take on a dark/brown/black colouration. This is something I have read nothing about but seems the most striking feature in my interaction with PP.
== Hybrid Habitat - living sculpture ==


At the same time I am aware that the conditions created for the plasmodial organism - and with them all observations I can make - are to a significant extent unnatural. Although it has lived with me for some time now, I know nothing of it's natural life cycle, I haven't e.g. seen any spores as it shifts between different hues of yellow, orange and brown/grey/green. And if it weren't for the Internet I wouldn't know that PP can move away from it's centre of origin. Hence, I am giving the organism a larger space (67x36,5x20), which will hopefully allow me to create a spacial environment that more closely resembles it's natural habitat. In it, I plan to track it's movement patterns.
The hybrid sculptural habitat for a living organism, connects the slime mold‘s natural habitat - the woods - with the life it has been habituated to lead in monitored and controlled human captivity -the petri-dish- . To this end, these two ‚habitats‘ are artistically translated by visually comparing the surface structure of trees to the human body in a 'form- study’. The study of shapes and forms reveals numerous textural similarities directly connecting the two. Followingly, the final sculpture, cast from an actual tree, implies a corporeal impression, in which the human body represents an analogy for the human-centred perception of nature and questions how we encounter other species around us.  


I am also interested in the idea of retreating my human influence, which is most notably characterised in my 'feeding it' every day. The organism is unique in it's characteristic to wander in search of optimal conditions for it's survival. In it's natural habitat the organism roams free and feeds on bacteria, fungal spores, and other decaying organic material all drawn from the surface it covers with it's plasmodial body.
In the temporarily living sculpture the slime mold acts as an agent of nature, as it grows, moves and covers the defenceless limb. What appears a body-like member, exposes our vulnerability. It hypothesises how by exceedingly cutting ourselves off from natural forms and personal interactions with other lifeforms we grow exposed and vulnerable in time.


[[File:Bodyhabitat_02.jpg|400px]] [[File:Bodyhabitat_01.jpg|400px]]


== Reflections and thoughts weeks 1 - 4 ==
== Relevance ==
Society is increasingly replacing the relationship to other living beings and forms of life with the digital world. This is precisely why it is important to continually reflect on how we approach our natural resources, the environment, sustainable living and to lead the viewer back to the direct confrontation with nature.
To do this, the overall goal of the project is to create a visceral connection between the viewer and a completely different form of life - the slime mold -, who’s habitat and abilities for survival are a central theme in order to emphasise the connection between humans and nature, as the most original source of knowledge and innovation.


So far I have been waiting for the moment where I feel 'on top of everything', this moment eludes me still but it is time to take stock and reflect on my conduct so far. I have been documenting in the form of photographs a lot, simply because the organism is constantly evolving so that if not captured the moment will have passed.(As initially everything was new I was taking photographs of all dishes. I have since gone over to only documenting special structures, or bacterial infections or other unusual features.) I am also writing down short notes of thoughts that struck me, my immediate observations, without analysing those thoughts further yet. My broader conceptual thoughts have been on a basic level, connecting different impressions in order to form my own perspective towards the organism.
The creative work process is characterised by the numerous difficulties in controlling an organism according to the human will. Ultimately, the artwork is self-organising as the slime mold determines the outcome in response to the conditions of the provided habitat. This includes a possible return to a more natural unpredictability and life cycle beyond the vital, plasmodial stage of growth into the development of spores (sporangia), hibernation (dormant sclerotium) or death.


At the same time my point of view was never entirely free as I entered this project with (1) already an interest for (especially) the dynamic, mind-of-it's-own quality of a growing organism (also relates to Fungi) - meaning a special interest in structural/visual appearance and time/movement/growth and (2) the ambition to create a 'sculptural moment' i.e. a special interest in forms for the organism to grow on.
In the end, the question of how living matter relates to the characteristics of form is posed: Will the slime mold Physarum polycephalum behave in a desired way in this new situation?  
 
I am starting to realise that this might result in the approach that I want to create first a setting/environment/habitat( i.e. sculpture) and then let the organism live, grow, decay on it's own accord. So, creating an interactive setting and then re-treating the human influence. This would include a process of first understanding both the organism's natural (the woods) and man-made (the petri dish) habitat to then create a hospitable setting which will allow the organism to thrive and live autonomously (as it should/could).
 
What is slowly becoming more and more clear is that I am interested in what I see, in the immediacy of the time I spent with the organism and the things I can observe with my own eyes. Although Physarum polycephalum is especially interesting for it's complex survival features, which have made it not only unique as a unicellular species but also one of the oldest species on earth, I don't want to develop my project based on the established scientific facts I can google about it. As I come from a background in branding were concepts emerged often on abstract conceptual implications and connections found out by reading about something, this time I want to base my work on what I, myself experience, observe, think through my interaction with the life form. (I want it to be what it is - I want to abstain from conceptualising on some invisible meta level.)
 
 
 
 
[[File:Physarum01.png|400px]]
 
[[File:Physarum02.png|400px]]
 
[[File:Physarum03.png|400px]]
 
[[File:Physarum04.png|400px]]
 
Sun. 31.05
Starting to notice this white-ish slime. First I thought it was mold but now I think it is the trace that Physarum leaves behind itself - which if it has enough space hinders it from going to this spot again. Might be having a strange reaction with the Agar?
 
[[File:Physarum05.png|400px]]
 
[[File:Physarum06.png|400px]]
 
Sun. 31.05
Seeing an answer to the question: does physarum grow on surfaces that are not Agar: yes!
Does it maybe draw the moisture from the surface of agar so that it doesn't need it in other/all areas? 
 
Also you can start to see the digested oats that are no longer yellow so the blob moved off of them because they offer no more for it.
 
[[File:Physarum07.png|400px]]
 
Sat. 30.05 - decided to 'feed' some less to start seeing a difference in behaviour
 
Sun. 31.05 - because I don't want to much moisture to build up (might lead to bacterial mold) and to keep caring well for the Physarum & first get a better understanding of it, I gave each dish a full spoon of oats today.
 
[[File:Physarum08.png|400px]]
 
[[File:Physarum09.png|400px]]
 
The Physarum's structure is obviously much better visible when NOT ON OATS - so what are aesthetic and sustainable ways to replace the oats or make the food source disappear?  
 
[[File:Physarum10.png|400px]]
 
[[File:Physarum11.png]]
 
Mon. 01.06 - The first petri-dish, probably older than a week now changed colors, it doesn't look like mold but it's clearly much much darker then if was yesterday.
Also doesn't look like the other phases of the life cycle?
 
Mon. 01.06 - Also there is a lot more moisture in the dishes again - maybe today is finally a day to inoculate?
Clearly 6 days is the limit - better to change them after 5 days  - like this guide also suggests: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BYdpvPxnUNgdqqu1ELHTnbWlc0cQqvu6


<gallery>
<gallery>
 
File:Body Habitat Sketch_1.jpg
File:Physarum12.png
File:Body Habitat Sketch_2.jpg
File:Physarum13.png
File:branchansicht2.jpg
 
</gallery>
</gallery>


== Technical approach ==


Mon. 01.06 - Here you can see Physarum build a squiggly mass on top of the oats, it's more like a pile of yellow little blobs than the vein like structure. 
What happens in the area of tension between laboratory and nature?


[[File:Physarum14.png]]


Mon. 01.06 - Also other dishes are starting to form black dots which I can see more clearly from the bottom - which show bacterial/Yeast contamination and indicate that I should change the dish.
== Research questions ==
Clearly the Physarum wants out, but isen't even healthy enough to make it.


'''A new inoculation follows! '''
(1)
Which parameters need to be closer to a lab context vs. which can more closely resemble the natural environment to tend to the ,needs’ of the living organism while realising the sculptural vision?
(2)
How does my human influence manifest on a controlled, repeatable visual level? i.e. Can I control the look (structure, color, movement)?


What isen't really clear to me is what to do with the old dishes from which I inoculate new ones? Do I let them go their course? Do I try to transfer as much of the blob and then let the leftovers dry?
( [[/Living in captivity picture dairy/]] )


Answer - Mon. 08.06: I wait until the dish is fully dried out our possibly contaminated to throw away whole dish in worst case or clean out the already dried Physarum. I now have pre-made petri-dishes for when a lot tries to escape. If only a little tries to come out I put it back in the same dish. 
== Quasi-scientific, technical process ==


[[File:Physarum15.png]]
Parameters and design experiments
All parameters that influence the slime mold‘s ability to sustain the plasmodial stage of growth (the needs) are pinpointed, controlled and adjusted between the natural habitat and the lab context in order to habituate the unicellular organism out of the petri-dish into a hybrid situation (the sculpture), inspired by the natural condition.
The main parameters discovered and reconfigured in individual design experiments are:


[[File:Physarum16.png]]


[[File:Physarum17.png]]
(1) Moisture
* Simulating rain
* Moisture pods


[[File:Physarum18.png]]


[[File:Physarum19.png]]
(2) ‘Food’source
* Retreating food/oat flakes
* No food at all /oat flakes
* Other food sources/Foreign matter
* Bacterial transfer


[[File:Physarum20.png]]


[[File:Physarum21.png]]
(3) Space
* Open space
* On wax
* Open airflow


[[File:Physarum22.png]]


[[File:Physarum23.png]]
(4) temperature and light
* Observation (1)
* Light exposures


Observational notes


1 large petri dish the agar never settled even though it is the same mix as the others- possible because I moved it too soon disrupting the cooling process?
(5) Care (Inoculation methods)


Also I need to make sure I have a bit more Agar next time as the solution is very wet in general.
* Slime mold with oat flakes
* Fresh slime mold
* Medium fresh slime mould
* Old slime mould
* Transfer directly onto wax
* Voluntary transfer


The petri-dishes with the discarded oats and Physarum clearly show that Physarum senses no more food and is trying quickly to escape to survive somewhere else.


Also the medium older dishes show me that Physarum has a sense for the environment and tells me very clearly it wants a new home! Even with enough food it wants to move on somewhere with better conditions - within one night it's climbed half way out the lid.
For detailed explanations of parameters, individual design experiments, conduct and outcomes please look into the pdf documentation (excerpt from the reader/book):
The others are quite happy where they are though.


The small dishes - after I removed the excess /old food seem 'happy' - they've reconnected and are staying inside the dish, also no colour change but the structure looks like it might be going towards spores.  
[[:File:Designexperiments_.pdf]]


I'm getting a sense for how Physarum perceives it's  environment slowly.
== Sculptural aesthetics ==


[[File:Physarum24.png]]
The imperative was to begin as close to the natural habitat of the slime mold as possible. In a first step, I went into the woods to inspect and collect tree branches and trunks from the forest floor.
The tree, in the end, serves as a figurative meeting point between the natural habitat and the human interaction, influence and perspective onto the organism. A foreign yet fami- liar form, which itself has life pulsing and oscillating through its vein-like network. In this visual construct the man-made state of captivity in a lab is represented by ‘the body’ and the untouched natural habitat is represented by ‘the tree’.
The time spent observing in the woods resulted in a study of shape and form similarities between human and tree. From these observations evolved the search for specific traits on tree trunks or branches that connect both the human and non-human. Direct visual similarities to the human body include features like creases, folds, scars, structures of muscle or bone, stretch marks ... a collarbone.. an elbow. 
In a further step to bring forth the body-like characteristics of these wooden features, the shape of the selected branch was taken by a silicone mould. From this mould a second branch was cast from hard wax in a faint skin-tone colour.  


Day 1 - freshly transplanted
This second wax branch, an impression taken directly from nature, becomes something between tree branch and severed (corporal)limb. An oversized elbow with stretch marks that hint at muscular veins just below the surface. Stretch marks as a signifier of both human and non-human life and growth. Scars and cuts on the outer most protective layer that hint at vulnerability underneath. A new terrain for the vein like slime mold to live on: 86cm in length with a radius of 3cm.
An interplay of surface, texture, colour, structure and patterns emerges.
Can Physarum polychefalum survive, live and grow on this altered habitat? Or will it quickly retreat, reproduce or hibernate?


I removed the oats with Physarum from the old dishes and preserved it.  
<gallery>
File:Earlysketch01.jpg
File:Earlysketch02.jpg
</gallery>


[[File:Physarum25.png]]
<gallery>
File:Processsketch_01.jpeg
File:Processsketch_02.jpg
File:Processsketch_03.jpeg
File:Processsketch_04.jpeg
File:Processsketch_0.5.jpeg
</gallery>


[[File:Physarum26.png]]


Day 2 - still strong but also fast moving out of the dish.
== Design of final sculpture ==
clear indicator that the leftovers can't just be thrown away as the organism still lives on even when perceived as 'discarded' by me. Even spreading faster than on the new Agar dishes.


[[File:Physarum27.png]]
The wax branch will be suspended from a metal-backdrop inside a plexiglas box with 8 small holes at top and bottom for oxygen to flow.  


Day 3 - The structure already looks much weaker and the colour is more faint
<gallery>
File:Final_construction.jpeg
</gallery>


[[File:Physarum28.png]]
The initial transfer of the slime mold onto the wax branch will take place as an 'Incubation-phase': a lab standard Agar base (100cmx40cm) with oat flakes is provided to the slime mold.  


[[File:Physarum29.png]]
<gallery>
File:Finalsculpture_incubator.jpeg
</gallery>


Day 1 - First movements in the big dishes
Once the organism has reached a substantial size the wax branch is added for a 'voluntary transfer' (*see design experiments)  to take place. For (aesthetic) presentation and preservation purposes the branch is transitioned onto the wall - away from the Agar and oat flakes that grow additional bacteria and molds - suspended instead in a sleek, plexi and metal presentation format.


[[File:Physarum29.1.png|400px]]
<gallery>
File:Finalsculpture sketch .jpeg
</gallery>


All small dishes are starting to look 'healthier' again - strong structure and colouring
<gallery>
 
File:Process images sculpture 02.jpg
[[File:Physarum30.png]]
File:Process images sculpture 03.jpg
 
File:Process images sculpture01.jpg
I had these liquidy membrane looking blob parts - what are they? A weird form from the Agar which was too liquid?
File:Process images sculpture04.jpg
Answer: When compared to the freshly inoculated dish: these are the spots of the Physarum placed - it moved from this spot quickly on to the fresh oats and these spots might have had a strange reaction with the still too fresh Agar or brought rests that where no longer good for Physarum and turn into this weird blob.  
File:Process images sculpture05.jpg
 
File:Process images sculpture06.jpg
[[File:Physarum31.png]]
</gallery>
 
[[File:Physarum32.png]]
 
[[File:Physarum33.png]]
 
Here, in both dishes, we can see the dish looks quite dry - in the one on the left the Physarum is crawling out because the environment is not good enough anymore.
 
[[File:Physarum34.png]]
 
In comparison the new dishes have a very moist agar (too moist) and are spreading out across the space.
 
[[File:Physarum35.png]]
 
[[File:Physarum36.png]]
 
[[File:Physarum37.png]]
 
[[File:Physarum38.png]]
 
[[File:Physarum39.png]]
 
[[File:Physarum40.png]]
 
[[File:Physarum41.png]]
 
[[File:Physarum42.png]]
 
[[File:Physarum43.png]]


[[File:Physarum44.png]]
*process images of sculpture additionally as pdf:  [[:File:Process images sculpture.pdf]]


== ‘Body Habitat - creeping garden’ - the book ==


A comprehensive reader to accompany the living sculpture, containing documentation of working artistically with living matter.


specific documentation of Physarum in captivity: https://kjakubek.hotglue.me/?iforganismdocumentation/
A collaboration with a unicellular organism.
A hybrid setting for an organism to behave in a desired way.  


online Processbook in process: https://kjakubek.hotglue.me/?Iforganism
[[:File:Body habitat creeping garden_thereader_Jakubek.pdf]]

Latest revision as of 19:06, 3 November 2020


Concept

The ‘Body Habitat’ project, as a media-artistic-scientific examination of non-human forms of life, explores and translates the artistic work with a vital organism and its habitat into a living sculpture.

The organic starting point of the project is the genus of the slime mold (Mycetozoa), specifically: Physarum polycephalum.

Hybrid Habitat - living sculpture

The hybrid sculptural habitat for a living organism, connects the slime mold‘s natural habitat - the woods - with the life it has been habituated to lead in monitored and controlled human captivity -the petri-dish- . To this end, these two ‚habitats‘ are artistically translated by visually comparing the surface structure of trees to the human body in a 'form- study’. The study of shapes and forms reveals numerous textural similarities directly connecting the two. Followingly, the final sculpture, cast from an actual tree, implies a corporeal impression, in which the human body represents an analogy for the human-centred perception of nature and questions how we encounter other species around us.

In the temporarily living sculpture the slime mold acts as an agent of nature, as it grows, moves and covers the defenceless limb. What appears a body-like member, exposes our vulnerability. It hypothesises how by exceedingly cutting ourselves off from natural forms and personal interactions with other lifeforms we grow exposed and vulnerable in time.

Bodyhabitat 02.jpg Bodyhabitat 01.jpg

Relevance

Society is increasingly replacing the relationship to other living beings and forms of life with the digital world. This is precisely why it is important to continually reflect on how we approach our natural resources, the environment, sustainable living and to lead the viewer back to the direct confrontation with nature. To do this, the overall goal of the project is to create a visceral connection between the viewer and a completely different form of life - the slime mold -, who’s habitat and abilities for survival are a central theme in order to emphasise the connection between humans and nature, as the most original source of knowledge and innovation.

The creative work process is characterised by the numerous difficulties in controlling an organism according to the human will. Ultimately, the artwork is self-organising as the slime mold determines the outcome in response to the conditions of the provided habitat. This includes a possible return to a more natural unpredictability and life cycle beyond the vital, plasmodial stage of growth into the development of spores (sporangia), hibernation (dormant sclerotium) or death.

In the end, the question of how living matter relates to the characteristics of form is posed: Will the slime mold Physarum polycephalum behave in a desired way in this new situation?

Technical approach

What happens in the area of tension between laboratory and nature?


Research questions

(1) Which parameters need to be closer to a lab context vs. which can more closely resemble the natural environment to tend to the ,needs’ of the living organism while realising the sculptural vision? (2) How does my human influence manifest on a controlled, repeatable visual level? i.e. Can I control the look (structure, color, movement)?

( Living in captivity picture dairy )

Quasi-scientific, technical process

Parameters and design experiments All parameters that influence the slime mold‘s ability to sustain the plasmodial stage of growth (the needs) are pinpointed, controlled and adjusted between the natural habitat and the lab context in order to habituate the unicellular organism out of the petri-dish into a hybrid situation (the sculpture), inspired by the natural condition. The main parameters discovered and reconfigured in individual design experiments are:


(1) Moisture

  • Simulating rain
  • Moisture pods


(2) ‘Food’source

  • Retreating food/oat flakes
  • No food at all /oat flakes
  • Other food sources/Foreign matter
  • Bacterial transfer


(3) Space

  • Open space
  • On wax
  • Open airflow


(4) temperature and light

  • Observation (1)
  • Light exposures


(5) Care (Inoculation methods)

  • Slime mold with oat flakes
  • Fresh slime mold
  • Medium fresh slime mould
  • Old slime mould
  • Transfer directly onto wax
  • Voluntary transfer


For detailed explanations of parameters, individual design experiments, conduct and outcomes please look into the pdf documentation (excerpt from the reader/book):

File:Designexperiments_.pdf

Sculptural aesthetics

The imperative was to begin as close to the natural habitat of the slime mold as possible. In a first step, I went into the woods to inspect and collect tree branches and trunks from the forest floor. The tree, in the end, serves as a figurative meeting point between the natural habitat and the human interaction, influence and perspective onto the organism. A foreign yet fami- liar form, which itself has life pulsing and oscillating through its vein-like network. In this visual construct the man-made state of captivity in a lab is represented by ‘the body’ and the untouched natural habitat is represented by ‘the tree’. The time spent observing in the woods resulted in a study of shape and form similarities between human and tree. From these observations evolved the search for specific traits on tree trunks or branches that connect both the human and non-human. Direct visual similarities to the human body include features like creases, folds, scars, structures of muscle or bone, stretch marks ... a collarbone.. an elbow. In a further step to bring forth the body-like characteristics of these wooden features, the shape of the selected branch was taken by a silicone mould. From this mould a second branch was cast from hard wax in a faint skin-tone colour.

This second wax branch, an impression taken directly from nature, becomes something between tree branch and severed (corporal)limb. An oversized elbow with stretch marks that hint at muscular veins just below the surface. Stretch marks as a signifier of both human and non-human life and growth. Scars and cuts on the outer most protective layer that hint at vulnerability underneath. A new terrain for the vein like slime mold to live on: 86cm in length with a radius of 3cm. An interplay of surface, texture, colour, structure and patterns emerges. Can Physarum polychefalum survive, live and grow on this altered habitat? Or will it quickly retreat, reproduce or hibernate?


Design of final sculpture

The wax branch will be suspended from a metal-backdrop inside a plexiglas box with 8 small holes at top and bottom for oxygen to flow.

The initial transfer of the slime mold onto the wax branch will take place as an 'Incubation-phase': a lab standard Agar base (100cmx40cm) with oat flakes is provided to the slime mold.

Once the organism has reached a substantial size the wax branch is added for a 'voluntary transfer' (*see design experiments) to take place. For (aesthetic) presentation and preservation purposes the branch is transitioned onto the wall - away from the Agar and oat flakes that grow additional bacteria and molds - suspended instead in a sleek, plexi and metal presentation format.

‘Body Habitat - creeping garden’ - the book

A comprehensive reader to accompany the living sculpture, containing documentation of working artistically with living matter.

A collaboration with a unicellular organism. A hybrid setting for an organism to behave in a desired way.

File:Body habitat creeping garden_thereader_Jakubek.pdf