Abstracts from the Spectra 2018 Symposium Part 4: <i>Interspecies</i>

Cat JonesMy artworks Plantarum: Empathic Limb Clinic and Somatic Drifts alter participants’ perception through visual-tactile illusion and synaptic reorganization, generating their reflection on transitory states and the malleability of the body matrix and triggering new experiences of empathy with the nonhuman.Plantarum: Empathic Limb Clinic blends concepts of neuroscience and horticulture via a cortical reorganization experiment, or what I call “synaptic grafting,” and entangles the relational histories of botanic grafting, skin and organ transplantation, plant signaling science and philosophies of vegetal thinking.In Somatic Drifts, a live artwork and accumulative audiovisual installation, I enable participants to experience the body of another entity (human, species and elemental) through body illusion and touch.These mediatized shamanic transgressions allow real and virtual participants to communicate across consciousness, culture, time and geography and accumulate in a recorded bank of bodies along with the unique participant audio narratives that accompany them.The artworkraises personal and political questions: What realm does the sense of self exist within? How far can it drift? What can this drift enable us to change?The methodology used in both embodied illusion and visual-tactile feedback has shown compelling results in diverse neuroscience applications and research. Mirror therapy is used to alleviate some chronic pain conditions, and virtual environment studies have shown evidence of reduction in implicit racial bias through (human avatar) virtual embodiment.While these novel artistic experiments aim to dissolve participants’ physical and conscious boundaries and provide space to reconsider human-human and human-nonhuman empathy and transgressions, my observations suggest a relationship of interest between body map disruption, illusion uptake and belief systems that has warranted further investigation in pain research, with initial results published by T. Nishigami et al. [1].Cat Jones, Sansom Institute, Body in Mind, University of South Australia. Email: catmjones@gmail.com. Website: www.catjones.net. ORCID: 0000-0002-8218-6384.Jiann HughesMy paper presents the material-discursive practices and differences made from introducing Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) to fungi during an artist-led research residency at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. An art practice-as-research methodology provided the framework under which I enacted a variety of food production practices and chose scientific methods to observe these biochemical kinships. The research-only nature of this artist residency enabled an open-ended extension of my ongoing research into the flourishing of human bodies in the presence of minerals and microbes by focusing on the interaction of metals and salts with fungi.I chose fungal bodies to represent human bodies since they function like miniature versions of our stomachs turned inside out, “eating” by releasing enzymes outside of their bodies. I chose edible fungi commonly used in food fermentation processes such as baking, brewing and preserving: yeast, oyster mushrooms and Rhizopus oryzae. The ancient food production practices of fermentation provided a temporal contrast to the novelty of MOF technology; fermentation, the consummation of sugar in the absence of oxygen, is the oldest metabolic pathway.MOFs are crystalline powders made of metal ions joined to each other by organic linkers. Their molecular-sized pores can store, separate, release or protect just about anything. Through my research I explored how it might be for MOFs to cohabit with human bodies (as in proposed biosensor and drug delivery system applications): How might we feel about the most intimate act of all, becoming one with MOFs by eating them? I envisaged a speculative banquet of MOF-embellished dishes, including nutritionally enhanced mushroom risotto, oyster mushroom jerky and tempeh burgers, washed down with mineral-enriched sake.This art-science collaboration explored the consequences of introducing MOFs to human cuisine by growing, baking, preserving and brewing through the medium of fungal culture. One intervention involved cultivating grey oyster mushrooms with the precursors of MOFs. MOF-like crystalline structures appeared to have formed in the fruiting body, leading us to hypothesize that MOFs may be biosynthesized within oyster mushrooms and to speculate about growing mineral-enriched mushrooms to replace dietary supplements, with the added advantage that the timing of release in the body may be programmed.A diffraction methodology (after Haraway) revealed the nature not just of such fungal-MOF kinships but also of the research apparatus, with the acknowledgment that the inquiry was necessarily emergent and situated, steeped in the personal interests and experience of the artist and scientists involved. Barad’s epistemological-ontological-ethical framework of agential realism made explicit the response-ability that comes with the material-discursive practices and knowledge-making activities that support these kinships. Haraway’s concept of care as an ethical and political obligation was used to extend the consideration of agencies and communities that make the living web of care. This concept of caring for new MOF technologies is further evoked through food preparation practices from the domestic realm. The act of taking nanoengineered MOFs out of the lab and reintroducing them as an edible, grow-your-own variety in the kitchen is an attempt to domesticate MOFs and the accompanying discourse.Jiann Hughes, 29 Speight Street, Thornbury, Victoria 3071, Australia. Email: hi@jiannhughes.net.Lisa Chandler and Donna DavisDonna Davis’s Unseen project (2015–2018) draws on scientific and observational data to generate imaginative works that highlight the unseen but vital interrelationships among Queensland botanical and biological species and ecological systems more broadly. Davis, who works in sculpture, installation and digital media, collaborated with Queensland Herbarium staff while undertaking a year of systematic field research at the Purga Nature Reserve in Ipswich, Australia.Pursuing her interest in the significant role that fungi play within ecosystems, Davis sought to determine what fungi might be symbiotic with the endangered swamp tea tree (Melaleuca irbyana) that dominates the reserve. Her scientific and creative explorations focused on ectomycorrhizal fungi, which produce visible fruiting bodies and form a mutually beneficial relationship with a plant host. During her rigorous field research, Davis observed, drew, photographed, documented and collected fungi specimens that now form part of the Queensland Herbarium collection. Her study encompassed multiple forms of knowledge generation, as she had to “see” her subject from scientific and creative perspectives in order to generate data for further scientific study and rich material to inform her creative outputs.Despite the site not being deemed particularly fruitful for mycological study, 62 fungi species were identified, of which 33 were found to be ectomycorrhizal with the endangered swamp tea tree. As a fungal diversity survey, the outcomes were significant. Davis’s engaged and collaborative processes also informed her touring exhibition, Unseen, which seeks to reveal interconnections between seen and unseen worlds. Within a series of primarily interactive works, she imaginatively visualizes the fruiting bodies of mycorrhizal fungi and invisible activities below the soil’s surface to illuminate complex symbiotic interactions that collectively support a wider ecosystem.To engage audiences, Davis incorporates interactivity in order to foster an experiential connection with, rather than distanced observation of, the ecologically focused perspectives within her works. The Unseen project required interaction and input from both artist and mycologist, and through its collaborative processes each was opened to different ways of seeing and thinking about their work. The collaboration required patience, trust, respect and a valuing of different approaches and methods that ultimately led to knowledge generation. Unseen provides a valuable case study from which to consider how such partnerships might operate in mutually beneficial ways to engender enhanced awareness and understanding of ecological systems so that they might be better protected, nurtured and valued.Lisa Chandler, School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, QLD 4558, Australia. Email: lchandle@usc.edu.au. ORCID: 0000-0002-4506-5938.Donna Davis, PO Box 4172, Raceview, QLD 4305, Australia. Email: donnadavisartist@gmail.com. Website: www.donnadavisartist.weekly.com.Dan Parker and Stanislav RoudavskiAs an increasing number of nonhuman organisms are under an unbearable pressure from urbanization, cities must be reimagined as places for interspecies cohabitation. Even the densest megapolises can act as habitats for many nonhuman species, but this cohabitation is fraught with conflict due to apparently incompatible habitat requirements and consequently irreconcilable cultures. In response to the need for eco-friendly cities, the project discussed in the paper considers biological and cultural aspects of the challenge in one conceptual space. It proposes an idea of art that is generated through interdisciplinary and interspecies collaboration. Such art relies on science for knowledge and on iterative design of practical habitats for cultural exchange.The project suggests introduction of prosthetic additions that can extend cities’ habitability for nonhumans. Its key hypothesis proposes that development of such habitats can be supported through interspecies collaboration. To test this approach, the project focuses on a charismatic and threatened species, the powerful owl, in the ecosystem of greater Melbourne. We use analysis of the owl’s biology and behavior to formulate alternative interpretations of urban patterns and interactions. Habitat loss caused by urbanization forces owls into inner urban areas, where they can hunt but not nest. To address this, the project proposes an approach of refitting existing urban structures into owl dwellings. To explore the constraints and consequences of this approach, the project compares two sites, within and on a periphery of a city, as they are seen by humans and by owls. The resulting computationally supported mapping, site identification and form generation redescribe the city as a stage of nonhuman dwelling, and we propose innovative interventions that can lead to improvements. In the art space, these outcomes can be read as geospatial storytelling that exposes hidden aspects of urban environments and emphasizes nonhuman species’ presence, fragility and need for support.Dan Parker, Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne, Australia. Email: daniel.parker@unimelb.edu.au. ORCID: 0000-0001-5325-4176.Stanislav Roudavski, Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne, Australia. Email: srou@unimelb.edu.au. ORCID: 0000-0003-0124-4907.