Cosmos is a collaboration between Matilda Aslizadeh and Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda. Using images of bacteria cultured from Matilda’s domestic spaces. Using excerpts from Arthur Bradley’s text Originary Technicity (2011), Cosmos reflects on the entanglements between humans and non-humans, on the share ontologies between humans and technology.  The images were sonified using Photosounder and the voice was created using a text to speech software.

Cosmos was created as part of Mitochondrial Ontologies: Deep Time and the Digital, an ongoing collaborative project which uses the concept of the mitochondria as a metaphor to explore the female body as a generative host of human and non-human life. Drawing from Lynn Margulis’ (1986) endosymbiotic theory of evolution, which emphasizes cooperation rather than competition, the project centers on symbiosis as a method of co-creation. Over six months, nine artists met, practiced butoh and shared their experiences growing bacteria from their bodies and other domestic spaces. The workshops aimed to build a collective repertoire of butoh-inspired movements to choreograph a live performance to generate audio and visual records to develop an AI-driven video installation as the basis for Mitochondrial Ontologies.

In parallel, each participating artist recorded audio reflections, images of growing bacteria, poetry, and movements to develop other choreographies. These resources were used to create additional projects and foster collaborations between the participants. The workshops became rich environments, hosts of energies, affects, ideas and resources that have inspired symbiotic interactions between the participants.