Yuan Qin is a multidisciplinary designer from China who works at the intersection of trans-biological and experimental design. Her goal is to guide people to imagine the possibilities that arise from the new relationships shaped by different creatures and humans in a future context.
She has an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design from Hubei University of Technology and is currently studying Information Experience Design at the Royal College of Art.
NASA is using a slime mould computer algorithm to estimate the location of filamentous structures in the cosmic web. In the future, with the rise of bio-computers, more bio-intelligent algorithms will be used in people's lives to solve some of the answers that computers cannot break through.
As James Bridle mentions in his book Ways of Being, the idea that biological systems can not only replace but surpass many of the operations of computers - operations that are already beyond human capabilities - is consistent with our claim that computers are like the world, not the other way around.
Among them is the slime mould, a creature with a complex biological evolutionary network that has caused a strong reaction, with various fields and industries studying the algorithms of the slime mold to find answers that humans cannot break through. A major breakthrough in human research and understanding of slime molds has also been made, revealing a mysterious link between slime molds and natural intelligence. Slime mould has gone from being an ugly creature without a name to the hottest subject of research.
Since then, mankind has developed a great interest in and admiration for this single-celled creature from the earth. It is believed that slime moulds have many undiscovered higher intelligences and, naturally, many humans have tried to use them for a range of divination purposes.
In the project Unanswered Oracle, Qin shows one possibility of human attempts to communicate with the higher organisms of slime mould divination, through experiments with different food inducers, resulting in a series of interesting answers. This seemingly disorganized series of traces is a choice made by the mindless slime mould through themselves. Humans will try to understand and learn from their slime moulds poetry, music and narratives.
The project attempts to extend the possibilities of speculating on the many future applications of slime moulds in human life through poetic narratives, and hopes to evoke a mood of respect and integration with nature.
