Myxomycetes
Quote from CohentheWriter on 8. October 2022, 4:46Museum Link: https://app.museumofcryptoart.com/collection/the-permanent-collection?collection=0xFBeef911Dc5821886e1dda71586d90eD28174B7d&token=261401&page=5
Source Link: https://knownorigin.io/gallery/261400-myxomycetes
Date Minted: December 31, 2020
Artist Description: I’ve always been fascinated by slime moulds. Neither plant nor animal nor fungus, these alien creatures strike me as a metaphor for the best of humanity. Single-celled organisms of the kingdom Protista, slime moulds spend part of their lives independently consuming bacteria, fungi, and yeasts on decaying plant matter. But when food runs out, they join forces with others of their kind and form one multicellular body, allowing them to travel toward the resources they need or form “fruiting bodies” – which sometimes resemble mushrooms – to reproduce. They play an important part of Earth’s ecosystems as they help break down organic matter, putting nutrients back into the system to be consumed by other organisms. Despite their lack of anything resembling a nervous system or brain, slime moulds have been proven to have the capacity to remember, learn, and solve problems. Scientists are using this to pinpoint how and when learning may have evolved. One slime mould famously mapped the Tokyo subway system! There are thought to be around 900 species of slime mould in the world, of all different shapes and colours, and I would encourage everyone to dive into learning about these creepy and beautiful creatures. The ones honoured in this not-at-all-to-scale art piece are Physarum polycephalum and Trichia decipiens. Music: "ti" from Trying (2020) by Philip Cornett
CohentheWriter’s Commentary:
I’m not sure if Oculardelusion intended to create such a fascinating perspective study, which she seems to have done, but Myxomycetes, the 59-second video loop the artist created on December 31 of 2020 (what a way to ring in the new year), is exactly that. A sweeping but silent narrative told in seven parts, Myxomycetes is a bottoms-up, top-down, all-around view of a subject near to Oculardelusion’s heart. She says quite a lot about her subject, the humble slime mould, in her Artist Description, talking about its inability to be neatly categorized into a single type of lifeform, its importance to Earth’s ecosystem, its frankly startling approximation of intelligence despite having no brain to speak of (biologically, that is. Not an empty insult.), but nothing she talks about is as potent as the following: “These alien creatures strike me as a metaphor for the best of humanity. Single-celled organisms of the kingdom Protista, slime moulds spend part of their lives independently consuming bacteria, fungi, and yeasts on decaying plant matter. But when food runs out, they join forces with others of their kind and form one multicellular body, allowing them to travel toward the resources they need or form ‘fruiting bodies’ – which sometimes resemble mushrooms – to reproduce.” I think sometimes I don’t discuss this era of crypto art in the proper context of its milieu, one still in the social throes of a Covid-19 pandemic. When Oculardelusion mints Myxomycetes, it’s during of the darkest periods of all, the wintry midsection of Covid’s second wave. Thus, I think it’s important to examine Myxomycetes from following two perspectives.
1) As a piece that aesthetically manages to explore the way different perspectives can fundamentally change our relationship to a subject.
And 2) As an analogy for human connection at a moment when it was most tested and, consequently, most needed.
As it concerns Point 1, Myxomycetes is such an interesting aesthetic piece, one that pours perspectives on us as if it’s a video brochure for a luxury resort, showing off the pool, the honeymoon suite, the private beach, the works. That’s partly a result of the video’s slow speed. Over the course of Myxomycetes’ 59-seconds, its seven various perspectives unfold languidly, one changing into another after a slothful dissolve effect. Each subsequent perspective is a stationary camera set up somewhere around or within the fungal thicket that is this piece’s subject. Oculardelusion’s version of a slime mould (“The ones honoured in this not-at-all-to-scale art piece are Physarum polycephalum and Trichia decipiens'' the Artist tells us) appears like an unwound and carefully-positioned intestine, spiked all over with swedish meatballs on sticks. That’s a somewhat reductive description, I know, but the piece has an abstract quality to it which must be overwhelming for anyone unfamiliar with the Artist’s intent. Thus, I think this kind of figurative language is helpful. Throughout the intestinal parts of the piece, small incandescent polyps course with some kind of energy; maybe this is representative of nutrients transferring, or might just be the flow of information across the mould’s length. Has a fire-like quality. We are shown the intricate, otherwise-stationary being from a few far-off perspectives, one that looks down at it from a god’s eye view, two from within the thicket of meatballs themselves (with a new view of the translucent energy which flows through their crystalline stalks), and others from various distances above the city-like slime mould. The result is a series of vastly different relationships formed with the creature. With only a faraway view, the mould might seem cold and distant. But because Oculardelusion invites us to move throughout it, we feel as if we’re uncovering its secrets, learning its intricacies, discovering new and exciting aspects of its existence, and the artwork Myxomycetes is itself our microscope.
But now we come to Point 2, which is more-or-less that, well, doesn’t this piece exude so much of the artist? What I mean is that, not only does the Artist Description unveil Oculardelusion’s idiosyncratic love for this oft-overlooked creature, but the nature of the piece itself, the care with which it has been recreated, and the impetus for its creation, that link between the Slime Mould’s network and humanity’s ability to form together for its own united good, that to me implies a certain perspective, one that manages gratitude and keen observational ability despite its sickly surroundings.
I recently came across an article recently how the pandemic had wrought significant effects on the personalities of those who were studied (in this case, Americans). The ultimate findings were on the negative side, but surprisingly, the early findings pointed to an increase in connectivity, responsibility, and feelings of gratitude during the first phase of the pandemic, as so many people seem to have found ways to build bridges to others, to help their neighbors, to act as social safety nets for those around them. Does that not sound like Oculardelusion’s description of the slime mold? Does it not mimic the subject of the piece itself, all those interconnected nodes, depending on each other for survival at the point when individual survival becomes impossible? There’s something lovely about that analogy. And it illuminates Oculardelusion’s specific state-of-mind at a specific time during an unforgettable epoch.
Minted on New Years, you can imagine what was on Oculardelusion’s mind when Myxomycetes was fusing with the blockchain. Because it very well might have been on yours. And mine —I can tell for your certain— too.
Source Link: https://knownorigin.io/gallery/261400-myxomycetes
Date Minted: December 31, 2020
Artist Description: I’ve always been fascinated by slime moulds. Neither plant nor animal nor fungus, these alien creatures strike me as a metaphor for the best of humanity. Single-celled organisms of the kingdom Protista, slime moulds spend part of their lives independently consuming bacteria, fungi, and yeasts on decaying plant matter. But when food runs out, they join forces with others of their kind and form one multicellular body, allowing them to travel toward the resources they need or form “fruiting bodies” – which sometimes resemble mushrooms – to reproduce. They play an important part of Earth’s ecosystems as they help break down organic matter, putting nutrients back into the system to be consumed by other organisms. Despite their lack of anything resembling a nervous system or brain, slime moulds have been proven to have the capacity to remember, learn, and solve problems. Scientists are using this to pinpoint how and when learning may have evolved. One slime mould famously mapped the Tokyo subway system! There are thought to be around 900 species of slime mould in the world, of all different shapes and colours, and I would encourage everyone to dive into learning about these creepy and beautiful creatures. The ones honoured in this not-at-all-to-scale art piece are Physarum polycephalum and Trichia decipiens. Music: "ti" from Trying (2020) by Philip Cornett
CohentheWriter’s Commentary:
I’m not sure if Oculardelusion intended to create such a fascinating perspective study, which she seems to have done, but Myxomycetes, the 59-second video loop the artist created on December 31 of 2020 (what a way to ring in the new year), is exactly that. A sweeping but silent narrative told in seven parts, Myxomycetes is a bottoms-up, top-down, all-around view of a subject near to Oculardelusion’s heart. She says quite a lot about her subject, the humble slime mould, in her Artist Description, talking about its inability to be neatly categorized into a single type of lifeform, its importance to Earth’s ecosystem, its frankly startling approximation of intelligence despite having no brain to speak of (biologically, that is. Not an empty insult.), but nothing she talks about is as potent as the following: “These alien creatures strike me as a metaphor for the best of humanity. Single-celled organisms of the kingdom Protista, slime moulds spend part of their lives independently consuming bacteria, fungi, and yeasts on decaying plant matter. But when food runs out, they join forces with others of their kind and form one multicellular body, allowing them to travel toward the resources they need or form ‘fruiting bodies’ – which sometimes resemble mushrooms – to reproduce.” I think sometimes I don’t discuss this era of crypto art in the proper context of its milieu, one still in the social throes of a Covid-19 pandemic. When Oculardelusion mints Myxomycetes, it’s during of the darkest periods of all, the wintry midsection of Covid’s second wave. Thus, I think it’s important to examine Myxomycetes from following two perspectives.
1) As a piece that aesthetically manages to explore the way different perspectives can fundamentally change our relationship to a subject.
And 2) As an analogy for human connection at a moment when it was most tested and, consequently, most needed.
As it concerns Point 1, Myxomycetes is such an interesting aesthetic piece, one that pours perspectives on us as if it’s a video brochure for a luxury resort, showing off the pool, the honeymoon suite, the private beach, the works. That’s partly a result of the video’s slow speed. Over the course of Myxomycetes’ 59-seconds, its seven various perspectives unfold languidly, one changing into another after a slothful dissolve effect. Each subsequent perspective is a stationary camera set up somewhere around or within the fungal thicket that is this piece’s subject. Oculardelusion’s version of a slime mould (“The ones honoured in this not-at-all-to-scale art piece are Physarum polycephalum and Trichia decipiens'' the Artist tells us) appears like an unwound and carefully-positioned intestine, spiked all over with swedish meatballs on sticks. That’s a somewhat reductive description, I know, but the piece has an abstract quality to it which must be overwhelming for anyone unfamiliar with the Artist’s intent. Thus, I think this kind of figurative language is helpful. Throughout the intestinal parts of the piece, small incandescent polyps course with some kind of energy; maybe this is representative of nutrients transferring, or might just be the flow of information across the mould’s length. Has a fire-like quality. We are shown the intricate, otherwise-stationary being from a few far-off perspectives, one that looks down at it from a god’s eye view, two from within the thicket of meatballs themselves (with a new view of the translucent energy which flows through their crystalline stalks), and others from various distances above the city-like slime mould. The result is a series of vastly different relationships formed with the creature. With only a faraway view, the mould might seem cold and distant. But because Oculardelusion invites us to move throughout it, we feel as if we’re uncovering its secrets, learning its intricacies, discovering new and exciting aspects of its existence, and the artwork Myxomycetes is itself our microscope.
But now we come to Point 2, which is more-or-less that, well, doesn’t this piece exude so much of the artist? What I mean is that, not only does the Artist Description unveil Oculardelusion’s idiosyncratic love for this oft-overlooked creature, but the nature of the piece itself, the care with which it has been recreated, and the impetus for its creation, that link between the Slime Mould’s network and humanity’s ability to form together for its own united good, that to me implies a certain perspective, one that manages gratitude and keen observational ability despite its sickly surroundings.
I recently came across an article recently how the pandemic had wrought significant effects on the personalities of those who were studied (in this case, Americans). The ultimate findings were on the negative side, but surprisingly, the early findings pointed to an increase in connectivity, responsibility, and feelings of gratitude during the first phase of the pandemic, as so many people seem to have found ways to build bridges to others, to help their neighbors, to act as social safety nets for those around them. Does that not sound like Oculardelusion’s description of the slime mold? Does it not mimic the subject of the piece itself, all those interconnected nodes, depending on each other for survival at the point when individual survival becomes impossible? There’s something lovely about that analogy. And it illuminates Oculardelusion’s specific state-of-mind at a specific time during an unforgettable epoch.
Minted on New Years, you can imagine what was on Oculardelusion’s mind when Myxomycetes was fusing with the blockchain. Because it very well might have been on yours. And mine —I can tell for your certain— too.