Blobs, Slime, and Fungi. The Queer Potential of a Mediamycology

Abstract

This article wants to establish the blob and with it other amorphous structures not only as a symptom for life in networked times, but also as a way of thinking with blobs in queering ontological, biological and disciplinary spheres. In their emergent state, they are quasi-objects in nucleo and ontological beings in the process of unfolding, of spreading and coming into existence. In its amorphous form the blob questions scientific, philosophical as well as aesthetic categories and shall therefore be explored from these different perspectives. In a comparative analysis of art works as well as texts from different scientific disciplines such as biology and anthropology, amorph objects reveal their world-building and connecting abilities across species and spheres. They can be understood as natural media of linking and cultivation. Drawing from queer theory the abject culture of these phenomena asks for a reevaluation of these attributions and towards an appropriation of the dangerous qualities ascribed to slime and fungi.

Keywords

• mediamycology
• blobs
• queer ecology
• networks
• ontogenesis