PHYSARUM POLYCEPHALUM
Documentation
22.04.2021
Sample 1:
Sample 2:
23.04.2021
Sample 1:
in the morning i had to remove some white mold and fed them with more oatflakes
Sample 2:
in the morning i had to remove some mold and fed them with more oat flakes
25.4.2021
For the weekend i brought my three samples to my parents house in another city. To transport the Physarum safely in a train I repurposed the tool kit suitcase. It seems like the transportation and change of surrounding has not harmed the organisms. On the contrary, the Physarum is growing faster in the dark suitcase than in a shadowy place in my room.
26.4.2021
The Physarum covers all of the petri-dish now. It is very bright and yellow.
27.4.2021
The Physarum is back in Weimar and this morning it grew out of the petri-dish. Time for a new environment. I prepared a cardbox with baking paper, cooked a lot of agar medium and filled the cardbox with that. I used agar from the supermarket and a cardbox is not a totally serile environment. Will the Physarum still grow?
I would love to imitate a small part of a forest, maybe inside of an aquarium where the Physarum can grow in an environment that is as natural as possible.
Interesting link:
https://www.geo.de/natur/naturwunder-erde/16036-rtkl-schlauer-pilz-dieser-schleimpilz-kann-sich-erinnern-und-raetsel
28.4.2021
The Physarum is growing very fast in the improvised cardboard box environment. Even faster than in the petri dishes.
29.4.2021
30.4.2021
i added coffee grounds and the Physarum seems to like it
1.5.2021
the sample in the petri dishes startet to dry a bit
2.5.2021
3.5.2021
i added some potato peel to try out if the Physarum likes it but it has not been discovered yet
and i startet to grow a sample in the maze
7.5.2021
Reviving some semi-dried Physarum was successful:
9.5.2021
starting to grow a lot of Physarum in a big environment, so i can test out different fabrics:
9.5.-18.5.
Growing Physarum on fabric:
- pure fabric
- fabric treated with agar beforehand
--> both fabric samples were placed on agar and then overgrown with Physarum
- samples of Physarum placed on the fabric (can it be revived or is the Physarum sample too weak?)
- fabric placed on Physarum and then overgrown with Physarum (the best reult so far)
Project idea(s)
Inside and outside we are the same - Living in Physarums world
1. As a project i want to create a performance which will picture similarities Physarum and humans share and how they can interact and coexist. A person and the Physarum will share a table, clothes and food. The person is sitting at a table, eating some oatmeal. The Physarum will be placed on the table. The person is eating oatmeal and will feed some of the oatfklakes to the Physarum from time to time. The love to oats is something Physarum Polycephalum and humans have in common. For this performance i will create a piece of clothing that the Physarum is growing on. The person sitting at the table is wearing this clothing piece.
The performance shows how much the lives of Physarum and a person can be entangled and how they can closely exist together on very little space.
Following thechnical things will be necessary for the installtation:
Figuering out how to place the Physarum on the table: in a petri dish? Growing on the table? Etc.
Grwoing Physarum on fabric? On which fabric will the Physarum grow? Can the piece of clothing be worn without hurting the Physarum? How long will the person have to sit on the table für the Physarum to "eat" some of the oaflakes?
Comment
Tehching Hsieh: One Year Performance 1980–1981 (Time Clock Piece)
2.
"Cinderella"-Physarum
a clothing piece overgrown with Physarum that is usually dried but can be revived whenever necessary and continues to grow