A Nervous System

Par

An interactive poem-­‐artwork hybrid examining the abundance of taxonomies and the near infinite number of interconnected biological systems in the environment, and explored through an interactive 3-­‐D depth interface. To understand, to translate the world, the objects and creatures and geographies around us, the near infinite number of systems, abundantly expanding and contracting, into meaningful symbols, shareable concepts, we developed language. Then to further understand the differences and similarities of everything around us, we created labels, categories and systems of taxonomy. And while these developed taxonomies and hierarchies are useful to organizing and departmentalizing our complex biomes and biology, they can also hinder new possibilities and understandings. What if defining the function of the lung or leaves limits alternative and possibly powerful uses, keeps us from exploring what some might call “fringe” science.