A petri dish used to propagate the physarum.
(Photo: Julio Lugon)
The initial motivation for creating a project like this was a desire to rediscover Physarum Polycephalum. In 2019, I produced Elephant Meditations, a sound installation that draw from the study of slime molds as a starting point and figuratively created a story set in the future (about 100 years from now). Regardless, this event sparked my curiosity about working with other non-human species outside plants, with which I also have close artistic ties.
Physarum Polycephalum myxomycete teaches us to be patient and cautious as people. It slowly progresses through the millions of years of existence it has while feeding us with experimental knowledge. It feels and causes us to observe things from unfamiliar angles. I could say that Physarum is aware among other things because it is vulnerable and needs our love.
The project got off to a really open start, and now we know we want to put together a sound composition. We have played cards to see the future, and we discovered that both they and we are curious about what will ultimately result from this post-human collective operation.
Second question posed to physarum.
(Photo: Julio Lugon)
The following questions were proposed, and the following responses were provided by the slime molds:
01. How long should the sound composition last? (In minutes)
Answer: 4, 5 (Date: 08.09.23)
02. How many audio tracks in the project?
Answer: 5 (Date: 12.06.23)
03. Do you want to play with Machine Learning?
Answer: Maybe later (Date: 15.06.23)
04. Which musical scale in the diy Midi Sprout?
Answer: 4 = Minor Scale (Date: 19.06.23)
05. Which sounds do we use in the Kawai Pop Synth Module?
Answer: 125 - 66 – 7 – 78 - 8 (Date: 25.07.23)
125= Tones = Red Onions
66= Tones = Stravinsky
7= Tones = FX Piano
78= Tones =NatureHorn
8= Combinations = Sound Effect keep the keys pressed for full effect
Physarum towards its answer, first question.
(Photo: Julio Lugon)
Now all that remains is to connect the dots and generate the sound piece with a diy midi sprout linked to the physarums.