Healing the Holobiont Invitation
An Open Invitation
Overview
This practice aims to help think beyond the nature/culture binaries that typically frame human exceptionalism. Advances in life sciences research over the past decade have shifted how we think about individuals. “Animals and plants are no longer heralded as autonomous entities but rather as biomolecular networks composed of the host plus its associated microbes, i.e., ‘holobionts’” (Bordenstein & Theis, 2015, p. 1). Thinking of human beings as networks rather than autonomous entities calls for new forms of engagement with the construct of the human embodied ‘self’.
The intent of this experiment in art/science collaboration is to open possibilities for creative expression around the idea of “becoming with” when we think about the human body and its constituent species. Becoming with, or sympoesis, is a way of framing a conceptual space that favours process over stasis and kinship over isolation. Thus, the creative undertaking both enacts and hopefully fulfills these principles through the process of reflective and artistic engagement with the human form. It can be an enactment of kinship as well – partnerships between individuals are sought to collaboratively produce a representation of the Holobiont. It can fulfill the engagement with these principles to the extent that the participants develop a new appreciation for the multispecies composition of the human form.
With this in mind, we propose an artistic and collaborative scholarship. Rigour in scholarship should not be predicated by intellectual isolation. A more collaborative form of scholarship is possible and desirable when facing difficult dilemmas such as those faced by humanity in the age of biodiversity collapse and the climate emergency. We also wish to explore artistic creativity as a core component of scholarship useful outside the Academy.
We wish to avoid the flattening of human differences which has been a feature of Anthropocene discourse (Crist, 2013). To this end the project is deliberately open-ended and non-prescriptive. The end goal is not an object, rather a perceptual shift. If there is consent and a desire to exhibit or share any of the artistic outcomes, we may decide to create a space for this in the future.
Join In
This project envisions pairing of natural scientists and artists (trained or untrained) to collaboratively create an image of the human body that represents the Holobiont. Human bodies are known to be multispecies organisms which can be conceptualized as Holobionts, or complex ecosystems which are nested within other ecosystems. However, for many people this is a new idea which represents a paradigm shift in thinking about the human “self”. To better know our ‘selves’, can we use collaborative artistic practice to creatively explore the human body as a multispecies endeavor? Perhaps we can begin by asking ourselves some of the following questions:
How might we step outside the theoretical mindset and into the creative one to better experience ourselves as “more than human”?
By working collaboratively (i.e. by pairing scientists and artists in the creative output), can we explore how a symbiosis across disciplinary boundaries can disrupt existing conceptions while remaining salient to conversation about microbial biodiversity and biodiversity in general?
Can we document this process as a possible way to help others deconstruct their own conceptions of biological human exceptionalism?
We invite you to join us. Artistic medium, time engagement, and modes of collaboration all remain open. We welcome you to participate in your own way and welcome any artistic output you wish to share with us.
Works cited:
Bordenstein, S. R., & Theis, K. R. (2015). Host Biology in Light of the Microbiome: Ten Principles of Holobionts and Hologenomes. PLoS biology, 13(8), e1002226. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002226
Crist, E. (2013). On the Poverty of Our Nomenclature. Environmental humanities, 3(1), 129-147. doi:10.1215/22011919-3611266