EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORGANIC MATTER
EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORGANIC MATTER
NON-TERRESTRIAL MATERIAL AGENCY
“Extraterrestrial organic matter (ETOM) as an active medium”
Interested in discussing and exploring the intermingling of non-human agency, degrees of aliveness and alien life, we started the PЯОТO-ALIEИ PЯOJECT (PЯОТO-A) in 2019. Through this project, we investigate the synthesis and use of extraterrestrial organic matter (ETOM) as an active medium for artistic purposes. We particularly focus on the morphogenetic tendencies and the non-linear behaviour of extraterrestrial material assemblages in non-terrestrial, alien environments.
Largely, this project is a framework, a multi-disciplinary laboratory of ideas and experiments at the intersection of astrobiology, chemistry and media art. Our aim is to use ETOM to grow soft, kinetic and autonomous agents: intelligent ʻothersʼ that thrive and avoid equilibrium on non-terrestrial environments – a new type of alien material agency, yet unknown to humankind.
C R E D I T S
Project team – Juan M. Castro, Akihiro Kubota and Taro Toyota.
In collaboration with – The Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS); Department of Information Design, Tama Art University; and The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo.
WORKS
FORMATA | 2020 – 2022
Non-terrestrial entities in a waterless mini-planet
PUBLICATIONS
FORMATA
Castro, J. M., Kubota, A., & Toyota, T. (2024). KOBAI 7, 37-51
Today, at a time when our anthropogenic impact and material culture are expanding beyond Earth, what would it mean ontologically to experience performative alien matter? FORMATA is a multi-sensory art installation, featuring lively and autonomous blobs within an experimental reactor crafted to simulate an alien world with liquid formamide
What is it like to be an alien
Kubota, A., (2023). IAMAS Journal Vol.14, 143-146
We find life not only in water and carbon-based organisms, but also in wetware such as oil droplets, computer software, hardware made of metal and plastic, and hybrids of the two. Perhaps “life” is one of the exercises given to us in order to remind us of the importance of continuing to think about unanswerable questions
Alien Media and Extraterrestrial Otherness
Castro, J. M., (2023). IAMAS Journal Vol.14, 150-156
In light of the signs of anthropocentrism still present in the concept of life, it is necessary, in the name of the living, to allow life to become something other than it is traditionally assumed to be. A wider horizon of life signs could allow us to bring in not only those excluded from being but also the entire realm of non-terrestrial agencies
Non-terrestrial Material Agency
Castro, J. M., & Kubota. A (2020). Performance Research 25 (3), 50-55
Extraterrestrial organic matter embodies the ‘other’, the unknown, alien life and a broader allocation of agency; it is loaded with philosophical, ontological and ethical considerations. As part of the Proto-A Project, we have focused on ETOM as an optimal substance to question the anthropocentric mind-set intrinsic to our uunderstanding of matter
EVENTS
JUNE 21
REVIEW - THE ART-SCIENCE SYMBIOSIS. SPRINGER
OCTOBER 27
TALK - ALIEN SLSA 2023. ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, PHOENIX
SEPTEMBER 6-10
EXHIBITION - (CO)OWNING MORE-THAN. ARS ELECTRONICA, LINZ
SEPTEMBER 17-19, 2022
EXHIBITION - YAMAGATA BIENNALE. Q1, YAMAGATA
DECEMBER 17 - 19
TALKS - 2021 OGAKI BIENNALE. SYMPOSIUM, L I F - E !?. JP/EU
APR 17 - JUNE 20
EXHIBITION - HOLOBIONT. LIVE IS OTHER. MAGAZIN 4, BREGENZ
FEB 19 – APRIL 25
EXHIBITION – 2021 SPACE ODDYSEY MONOLITH. GYRE GALLERY, TOKYO
DECEMBER 17-25