Drawing Out the Superorganism: Artistic Intervention and the Amplification of Processes of Life

The true slime mould, Physarum polycephalum, is a single-celled organism which spends much of its life creeping around the forest floor feeding on rotting vegetation. Comprised of many cells, all operating within a single cell membrane, this many-headed amoeba possesses a form of proto-intelligence which enables it to operate far beyond its physiological means. Despite having no sensory organs or a brain, the slime mould has demonstrated that it can recognize pattern by anticipating events and is entirely self-organizing, with no centralized control system – purely a mass of cellular cytoplasm pulsing in a synchronous flow.

This chapter examines the behaviours of this intriguing organism as mediated through a series of time-lapse studies designed to draw out inherent processes of life. Responding to given interventions – a series of invitations and interruptions utilizing known attractants and repellents – a performative stimulus/response emerges. The imaging technologies employed amplify the biological world of the slime mould to human spatio-temporal scale. The intention of the studies is to reveal the underlying processes at play within this fascinating and beautiful organism and, through the aesthetic and technological devices employed, to entice other humans to observe and take note.

The edited collection Drawing Processes of Life is the product of artists, biologists and philosophers working together to formulate new ways of representing a new approach to life. It shows how better to represent biological process through drawing and to demonstrate the scientific value of drawing as a method. 78 b/w and 36 colour illustrations.

A PDF version of this book is available for free in Open Access. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License.