Mitochondrial Ontologies: Deep Time and the Digital (15-minute video installation with sound) is part of an ongoing collaborative project directed by Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda that uses the concept of mitochondria as a metaphor to explore the female body as a generative host of human and non-human life. The video combines A.I.- generated images and images and sounds created by nine artists invited to participate in a series of Butoh dance workshops and to grow bacteria individually from their bodies and domestic spaces with a DIY kit. The dance workshops became rich environments, hosts of energies, affects, ideas, and resources that inspired symbiotic interactions between the participants and generated other projects.
The video constructs a visual narrative that reflects the possibility of tracing past lineages of humans and non-humans through the female body. It references how knowledge and information are passed down from generation to generation across bodies, machines, and geographies.
Conceptually, the project is inspired by the function of the mitochondria as the cell’s powerhouse and the gendered dimensions of its role in the passing down of human DNA. In most multicellular organisms, the mother inherits the mitochondrial DNA, thus pointing to the possibility of tracing maternal lineages over time. The project draws from the generative conflations of mitochondria as a powerhouse and maternal lineage to explore possible futures in which algorithms may demarcate biological and digital boundaries. Drawing from Lynn Margulis’ (1986) endosymbiotic theory of evolution, which emphasizes cooperation rather than competition, the project also explores symbiosis as a co-creation methodology through participatory dance workshops, bacteria growth experiments and A.I. image generation.
Mitochondrial Ontologies: Deep Time and the Digital builds from previous collaborations exploring the relations between self and technology and the use of computational tools in live performance and video art by Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda, Freya Zinovieff, prOphecy Sun and Steve DiPaola.
