Read Piotr Bockowski "Fungi Media": Quorum Sensing as a Framework for Understanding Fungal Mediation and Human-Nonhuman Assemblages in Posthuman Literature
An Essay
ABOUT THE WRITER
Kenji Siratori is a Japanese avant-garde artist who is currently bombarding the internet with wave upon wave of highly experimental, uncompromising, progressive, intense prose. His is a writing style that not only breaks with tradition, it severs all cords, and can only really be compared to the kind of experimental writing techniques employed by the Surrealists, William Burroughs and Antonin Artaud. You can catalyze with his website here.
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Piotr Bockowski positions fungi as a pivotal metaphor for understanding the decomposition and reconfiguration of human bodies and sexualities in the digital age. Fungi, with their mycelial networks, echo the principles of quorum sensing: they respond collectively to environmental stimuli, optimizing growth and resource allocation. This microbial intelligence mirrors the decentralized dynamics of technological mediation described by Bockowski, where "the dispersion of sexualities by means of networked communication" and "mutagenic influence of the Internet" dissolve normative boundaries of human identity. Quorum sensing underscores the interdependence of individual and collective entities, a principle that resonates with Bockowski's framing of "fungi media" as an extension of posthuman subjectivity. By aligning human technological activity with microbial processes, Bockowski challenges anthropocentric assumptions about intelligence and agency, reinforcing Rosi Braidotti's concept of "zoe-geocentered" subjectivity, wherein human and nonhuman life forms coalesce into dynamic assemblages. In his analysis of bodily mutation, Bockowski emphasizes how "mutant performances" facilitated by digital technologies manifest as speculative explorations of nonsexual reproduction and fragmented subjectivities. These transformations can be likened to the adaptive behaviors observed in quorum sensing. Just as microbial communities alter their gene expression in response to environmental signals, human bodies and identities, mediated by the Internet, adapt to the pressures and possibilities of digital manipulation. Bockowski's depiction of "image manipulation of mutant bodies" as a form of post-Internet practice invites a comparison with quorum sensing's capacity to orchestrate collective action. The "aesthetics of bodily mutation" derived from manipulated digital images mirrors the process by which microbial populations synchronize their behaviors, thereby generating novel configurations of life and identity. The notion of fungal mediation as a metaphor for human-nonhuman collaboration further supports a quorum-sensing framework. By conceptualizing "media technologies as extensions of microbial bodies" and positioning fungi as agents of ecological renewal, Bockowski articulates a vision of posthuman ethics grounded in interspecies interdependence. This vision aligns with the quorum-sensing paradigm, which emphasizes the importance of collective action and communication in sustaining life systems. Moreover, the performative intimacy with nonhuman life advocated in Bockowski's work echoes the ethical imperatives of quorum sensing. Just as microbial communities rely on shared signals to thrive, humans must engage with nonhuman entities—fungi, microbes, and digital technologies—in ways that foster mutual flourishing. This ethical framework challenges the Cartesian dualism of human versus nonhuman, advocating instead for a relational ontology that embraces the material immanence of all life forms. Quorum sensing, a biochemical communication mechanism in microbial life, offers a provocative lens through which to interpret the mediated, hybridized subjectivities of post-Internet performance. In the frameworks articulated by Piotr Bockowski, the interplay between the material and digital worlds challenges the boundaries of human identity, situating it within a continuum of microbial vitality and technological mediation. As James Bridle introduced in New Aesthetics (2011), the post-Internet condition reflects an "Internet state of mind"—a way of engaging with the world through networked processes. Bockowski extends this by rethinking materiality in the post-Internet era, observing that "materiality produced by processes aiming for dematerialization" paradoxically foregrounds the strangeness of matter. In this context, bodily performance becomes a nexus where the material and immaterial converge, with digital mediations re-materializing the human form. The notion of fungosexuality, as Bockowski proposes, epitomizes this convergence by framing mutant aesthetics as a mode of bodily reproduction beyond the binary constructs of sex and gender. Quorum sensing provides a compelling analogy for understanding these performative transformations. Microbes utilize this process to coordinate behaviors, effectively embodying distributed intelligence. Bockowski’s reimagining of human media technologies as microbial extensions aligns with Lynn Margulis’s symbiotic evolution theory, positioning human bodies as products of microbial networks. Just as quorum sensing enables microbial communities to act in unison, Internet platforms serve as digital quorum systems that mediate and amplify human interactions, allowing fragmented subjectivities to coalesce into hybridized, posthuman identities. Decomposition, central to fungal life and its generative processes, becomes a critical metaphor in post-Internet performance. As Bockowski highlights, the Internet’s visual and performative spaces facilitate the decomposition of traditional human identities, creating opportunities for mutation and hybridity. By foregrounding decomposition, Bockowski challenges "the industrialist belief in progress," proposing an anti-modernist aesthetic of decadence that values life processes over capitalist production. Fungi, as decomposers in the biosphere, mirror this ethos by breaking down organic matter to sustain new life, paralleling the transformative potential of post-Internet bodily performances. The term fungosexuality encapsulates this shift from binary sexuality to a post-sexual paradigm where human bodies merge with nonhuman entities. Bockowski’s performances and theoretical constructs suggest that digital environments enable the proliferation of mutant bodies—fractured, hybrid, and non-binary forms that resist commodification. This aligns with Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity, extending it into a digital realm where identities are iteratively constructed and deconstructed through online mediations. The integration of quorum sensing into the discourse on post-Internet performance invites us to reconsider the relationship between human and nonhuman life. By recognizing the microbial foundations of human existence, Bockowski’s philosophy challenges anthropocentric narratives, advocating for a multispecies perspective that embraces the generative vitality of nonhuman entities. This approach echoes Rosi Braidotti’s critique of "the commodification of life," offering a vision of coexistence that prioritizes ecological balance and material interconnectivity. Quorum sensing, as both a biological and philosophical concept, underscores the distributed intelligence inherent in life processes. Its application to post-Internet aesthetics reveals the potential for new modes of being that transcend human-centric paradigms, fostering a deeper engagement with the biosphere’s complex materialities. Bockowski’s assertion that “thought is not human” underscores the extent to which microbial life permeates and conditions human existence. Quorum sensing exemplifies this nonhuman intelligence, wherein bacteria and fungi communicate through chemical signals to coordinate collective behavior. By exposing the microbial entities within and around us, Bockowski destabilizes the anthropocentric framework that separates humans from their environments. This perspective aligns with Lynn Margulis’ theory of symbiogenesis, which posits that evolutionary processes are deeply collaborative and interdependent, driven by microbial exchanges rather than isolated individual actions. Incorporating Paul Stamets’ work on fungi ecologies, Bockowski uses fungal networks as a conceptual model for understanding human and nonhuman interrelations. Stamets’ depiction of mycelium as a “living network” that decomposes organic matter and redistributes nutrients mirrors the processes of decomposition and recomposition at work within human technologies. Bockowski’s notion of “fungoid media” extends this metaphor, suggesting that media technologies—from the Internet to digital platforms—function as decompositional systems that fragment and reassemble human subjectivity, much like fungal ecologies break down organic matter to sustain ecosystems. Bockowski’s exploration of media technologies through the fungal decomposition offers a novel framework for understanding technological mediation. Media, he argues, are not merely human extensions but are embedded in processes of nonhuman life. Drawing on Stamets’ ecological insights, Bockowski conceptualizes media as “decomposers,” capable of dismantling traditional notions of human identity and enabling the emergence of hybrid, posthuman subjectivities. This perspective is exemplified in Bockowski’s artistic practice, particularly his bioactive performance spaces such as the “Dungeons of Polymorphous Pan.” Here, human performers interact with microbial entities, creating a “living network of urban decay” where boundaries between human and nonhuman dissolve. Such performances, Bockowski contends, reveal the “mutant bodily performances” enacted by fungal and microbial life, challenging the privileging of human agency in technological mediation. By situating media within the processes of decomposition, Bockowski shifts the focus from human-centric narratives of technological progress to an ecological understanding of media’s role in life cycles. Quorum sensing not only provides a biological framework for understanding microbial coordination but also raises ethical questions about the human impact on nonhuman life. Bockowski highlights the “overwhelming civilizational issues of industrially accelerated overproduction,” critiquing the cultural politics of mass consumption and its effects on microbial and fungal ecologies. His work underscores the necessity of sustainable approaches to technological development, informed by an awareness of the interconnectedness of life forms. This ethical imperative extends to the philosophical redefinition of life itself. By framing microbial and fungal entities as active participants in the biosphere’s evolutionary processes, Bockowski challenges anthropocentric notions of intelligence, agency, and reproduction. His concept of “fungosexuality” exemplifies this shift, reimagining human sexuality and reproduction through the lens of microbial and fungal processes. Technologies such as cloning, genetic engineering, and digital avatars, Bockowski suggests, mimic the nonsexual forms of reproduction observed in fungal ecologies, destabilizing binary notions of gender and identity. Bockowski’s work invites us to reconceptualize the role of media technologies as active participants in ecological processes rather than passive tools for human use. By drawing on speculative philosophies such as Reza Negarestani’s “Cyclonopedia” and Eugene Thacker’s “In the Dust of This Planet,” Bockowski positions media as “living blobs” that mediate between human and nonhuman forms of intelligence. This perspective aligns with the philosophical turn toward “nonhuman vitalism,” which seeks to decenter the human and foreground the agency of microbial and ecological systems. Quorum sensing serves as both a metaphor and a methodological framework for this inquiry. By emphasizing the communicative capacities of microbial entities, Bockowski challenges the linguistic limitations of traditional philosophy, advocating for a multimodal approach that incorporates performance, visual art, and speculative fiction. His “Chronic Illness” events, for example, use bodily performances to explore the entanglements of human and nonhuman life, offering a visceral, embodied engagement with the processes of decomposition and recomposition that underpin media ecologies. In "3 Synthetic Organs," Bockowski presents a body in flux, fragmented and reconstituted through synthetic, fungi-infested appendages. The performative act embodies quorum sensing as a metaphor for the dynamic interplay between performer, fungal entities, and the performance space itself. Just as quorum sensing enables microbial collectives to adapt to and modify their environments, Bockowski’s synthetic organs mediate the space, transforming the performer’s body into a site of mutual influence and continuous redefinition. As Bockowski describes, “The organs had been sourced from a large wound sculpted into the wall of the Dungeons...mediating the space as a living entity.” This symbiosis reflects the principles of quorum sensing, where communication between the fungal “organs” and their human host fosters a collaborative emergence of form and function. The body, here, is neither singular nor autonomous; it is an emergent phenomenon shaped by the relational dynamics of its microbial and synthetic constituents. Bockowski’s concept of “fungosexuality” challenges traditional frameworks of identity and sexuality by foregrounding the queer, proliferative capacities of fungal organisms. Much like quorum sensing facilitates communal responses within microbial colonies, fungosexuality articulates a posthuman sexuality rooted in collective, non-reproductive mutations and transformations. Drawing on Donna Haraway’s notion of “queer kin,” Bockowski notes, “Fungosexuality...disconnects sexualization of the body from the reproductive features of binary human sex, linking it instead with transhuman reproduction through performative mutations and decomposition.” This resonates with quorum sensing’s capacity to reorganize biological processes for adaptive advantage. The transhuman body, interwoven with fungal networks, becomes a site of endless reconfiguration, rejecting the binary constraints of traditional sexual and corporeal identities. Bockowski’s “fungi media” extends Marshall McLuhan’s theory of the body as media to encompass the fungal and microbial. In reversing McLuhan’s assertion that media extend human senses, Bockowski argues, “I position human bodies as extensions of fungi into media communications.” This inversion situates the human as an agent within a larger, mycelial network, echoing the quorum sensing processes that underpin microbial ecosystems. The Dungeons of Polymorphous Pan, as both performance space and fungal entity, exemplify this framework. The “synthetic discharge” and microbial growth that shape the performance environment demonstrate a dynamic feedback loop akin to quorum sensing. The fungal entities and the performers are co-creators of the space, each responding to and influencing the other in a continuous exchange of signals and material transformations. Quorum sensing offers a vital heuristic for understanding the generative interplay between microbial, synthetic, and human actors in Bockowski’s work. Jane Bennett’s Vibrant Matter underscores this, asserting, “Even the most elusive material entities have to be considered not as passive background to human activities but rather as influential actants.” Similarly, Bockowski’s fungal media treat the microbial not as ancillary but as central to the performance’s ontology. This aligns with Artaud’s vision of language and the body as sites of corporeal intensities. As Stephen Barber notes, “Writing for Artaud is physical secreting, both savage and interrogative in its impact.” Bockowski’s fungal performance translates this vision into the language of posthumanism, where the body becomes a medium for fungal and technological communication, embodying the performative intensity of quorum sensing. Bockowski describes writing as "a sharp blade thrust into paper pages of his notebooks," evoking a visceral imagery of bodily performance that aligns with Artaud's theatrical focus. Artaud envisioned writing and language as corporeal expulsions—sweaty mucus or slimy discharge—emphasizing the primacy of the body over the intellect. Similarly, quorum sensing in microbial life highlights communication as an emergent, collective phenomenon rooted in the tangible and physiological. For Bockowski, the act of writing parallels Artaud’s gestural emphasis, challenging language’s limitations by re-embedding it within the body. This perspective resonates with Haraway's "partial sight and limited voice," which acknowledges the fragmentary nature of communication and its rootedness in bodily processes. In the microbial world, quorum sensing operates as a dynamic, collective intelligence, revealing the limitations of anthropocentric views of communication. By framing writing and performance as bodily acts, Bockowski and Artaud disrupt the abstraction of language, grounding it instead in the messy materiality of the human and nonhuman. Artaud's "Theatre of Contagion" exemplifies the fusion of microbial and human performance. As Stanton Garner notes, Artaud’s lectures embodied the symptoms of plague, turning the human body into a site of microbial mediation. This performative contagion parallels quorum sensing, wherein microbial communities coordinate collective behavior, such as bioluminescence or pathogenesis. In both cases, the body becomes a medium of communication, traversing the boundaries between the individual and the collective. Bockowski’s "Dungeons" performance space—a decaying 19th-century sewage infrastructure—acts as an iteration of Artaud's contagious theatre. Squatters living amidst urban biowaste highlight the entanglements between human infrastructure and microbial decomposition. Microbes, as Myra Hird suggests, are integral to human technological systems, decomposing organic matter into energy sources. This interplay between microbial agency and human technological infrastructures echoes quorum sensing's coordination of communal behaviors, suggesting a symbiotic relationship between human and microbial worlds. The digitized body, as Stephen Barber observes, retains its corporeal intensity through its anomalies and residues, mirroring the persistence of microbial forms in human environments. Artaud's vision of bodily transmutation finds new relevance in post-Internet performance art, where the fragmented, morphing body embodies the hypermediacy and immediacy described by Bolter and Grusin. Quorum sensing offers a metaphorical framework for understanding these mutations, as microbial communities continually adapt and reorganize in response to environmental stimuli. Post-Internet mutant performers embody this microbial adaptability, using bodily performance to critique and reimagine digital mediation. Their acts reflect Artaud's "screaming language," a visceral rejection of linguistic abstraction that seeks to "infect" others through electric media. By invoking quorum sensing, these performances underscore the interconnectedness of all life forms, emphasizing the generative potential of microbial intelligence as a model for re-embodied media. The mycelial network, with its decentralized, communicative structure, offers a potent analogy for both quorum sensing and post-Internet performance. Haraway’s notion of the "coding trickster" aligns with the mycelial agency that Bockowski invokes in his work. By embracing the physiological and microbial dimensions of media, performers disrupt the anthropocentric narratives of communication, opening new "territorial plateaux" for thought and action. Paul Virilio and Sylvère Lotringer posit a profound symmetry between the manipulations of communication media and invasive biotechnological practices. “The new human of biology corresponds to the cloning of the world itself through the transmission technologies.” This conceptualization aligns with quorum sensing’s emphasis on interconnectedness and collective responses to environmental stimuli. The manipulation of the body, whether through digital media or genetic engineering, mirrors the microbial processes of quorum sensing, wherein individual entities adapt to communal cues. This symmetry is vividly illustrated in the work of ORLAN, whose performances employed plastic surgery to critique fixed notions of identity and biological determinism. By embracing bodily fragmentation and technological reconstitution, ORLAN’s work underscores the parallels between microbial adaptation and the post-Internet body’s mutability. In a similar vein, contemporary performance art, as exemplified by Bockowski’s fungal media explorations, positions the body as a mutable canvas, shaped by external technological and ecological forces. The post-Internet body, described by Virilio and Lotringer as “fragmented, abject, grotesque, sublime, monstrous,” evokes Artaud’s notion of the “body without organs.” This conceptual body resists fixed anatomical structures, embodying a “delirium” of endless transformation. Artaud’s visceral descriptions of electroshock therapy, where he felt himself “wrung out and twisted…a spasm among several chokings,” reveal the violent disintegration of bodily coherence. In the microbial context, quorum sensing’s role in biofilm formation and collective behavior reflects this fragmentation, as individual microorganisms merge into an interconnected whole, transcending their discrete identities. Performance art that engages with bodily mutation—such as Bockowski’s fungal explorations in the Dungeons of Polymorphous Pan—extends this vision. The integration of fungal media into live performances enacts a decomposition and recomposition of the human body, akin to microbial quorum sensing processes. These performances, through their intimate entanglements with nonhuman entities, challenge the boundaries of human identity, sexuality, and corporeality. Fungosexuality, as conceptualized by Bockowski, represents a radical reimagining of bodily relations, emphasizing intimacy with nonhuman life forms. By aligning with quorum sensing’s principles of collective adaptability and environmental responsiveness, fungosexuality foregrounds the potential for new forms of coexistence and creativity. Post-Internet performance art frequently incorporates these ideas, celebrating bodily transformations that defy sexual binaries and human-centered paradigms. This ethos is particularly evident in the queer, trans, and fetishist communities engaged in mutant performance art. By rejecting traditional notions of reproduction and embracing “post-sexual bodily mutations,” these performers highlight the intersections of ecological sustainability and human diversity. Quorum sensing provides a metaphorical framework for understanding these performances as collective acts of resistance, where individual bodies resonate with a shared, adaptive rhythm, mirroring microbial processes. Piotr Bockowski’s "Fungoid Decomposition as a Form of Post-Internet Biomediation" reconfigures the biosphere as a contaminated yet generative nexus of human and nonhuman interaction. Central to this paradigm is the concept of decomposition—biological, technological, and philosophical—as a transformative force that extends beyond human perception. Bockowski positions fungal processes, traditionally overlooked as mere decay, as foundational to planetary life and technological mediation. As he argues, "Fungoid decomposition, as a media concept, constitutes the mutant bodies of post-Internet performers." Quorum sensing, a process by which microbial populations regulate gene expression in response to cell density, serves as an apt metaphor for Bockowski’s vision of fungoid decomposition. Just as quorum sensing enables microbial collectives to act as unified systems, the fungal media of Bockowski’s analysis enacts a distributed agency across human and nonhuman bodies. This challenges traditional binaries of self and other, organism and environment. As Bockowski writes, "Fungi media melt the natural base-matter into elementary connections of life," evoking a fluidity that mirrors the quorum-sensing network’s adaptability. Bockowski situates the decomposition of human bodies as both a literal and metaphorical process shaped by technological mediation. Drawing on John Durham Peters, he identifies natural elements as pre-human media infrastructures that anchor life’s processes: "Water, air, earth... facilitate life’s dynamics." Fungi, as mediators of decomposition, align with quorum sensing’s focus on collective transformation through dynamic feedback loops. Post-Internet performance art, according to Bockowski, embodies this interplay by decomposing traditional corporeal identities and remediating them as hybrid, digital-organic forms. Mutant performers adopt "rotten makeup, synthetic illness symptoms... and fleshy overgrowth" to visualize the implosive, symbiotic merging of human and nonhuman elements. Here, decomposition is no longer a sign of decay but a process of speculative reformation. Bockowski’s integration of ecological processes into technological mediation resonates with Timothy Morton’s ‘heap ontology,’ which describes ecosystems as "heaps of lifeforms." Similarly, quorum sensing challenges hierarchical models of individuality, positing instead a relational framework where entities communicate and coalesce. Bockowski extends this idea, describing media as "contaminated strategies of decomposition" that undermine distinctions between natural and technological realms. This contamination parallels the quorum-sensing logic of microbial communities, where individuality dissolves into collective action. By positioning the Internet as a decomposed body—"a medium for technology"—Bockowski reimagines digital networks as biological systems, animated by the same chaotic dynamism that governs fungal growth and quorum signaling. The performative aspect of Bockowski’s theory lies in its capacity to aestheticize ecological and technological entanglement. The mutant performers he describes enact a form of speculative biomediation, embodying the microbial agency of fungi to interrogate human exceptionalism. Lynn Margulis’ concept of endosymbiosis supports this vision by framing life as "a heap entailing a disproportional complexity," where microbial collaboration underpins evolutionary processes. Bockowski’s emphasis on the implacable agency of fungi—"They enter the human body without notice"—underscores their indifference to human narratives of purity and control. This aligns with the quorum-sensing logic of decentralized decision-making, where agency is distributed across a network rather than centralized within a single entity. Piotr Bockowski’s exploration of the intersection between digital media, body, and decay offers a provocative commentary on the symbiotic relationship between humanity and technology, drawing attention to how the post-Internet condition deconstructs traditional notions of human identity. By drawing on biological and philosophical theories of decomposition, Bockowski aligns with the concept of quorum sensing, a term used in microbiology to describe the ability of microorganisms to coordinate behavior based on population density. This metaphor of coordination resonates with the emergence of post-Internet bodies, societies, and interactions, as they shift from individualistic, autonomous entities into distributed, interconnected networks of human and nonhuman elements. The interconnectedness of these bodies—both human and nonhuman—mirrors the essence of quorum sensing, where the communication between entities creates new forms of being. In the early days of the Internet, humanity was confronted with a profound ontological question: “Are we still human?” As Bockowski states, humans engaged with the Internet in an attempt to define themselves within the new medium, translating their pre-Internet lives into digital forms. This translation was a self-identity that sought to preserve continuity between the body’s biological existence and its digital counterpart. Yet, over three decades later, the presence of the Internet has not merely altered this relationship; it has translated, fractured, and decomposed it. Bockowski identifies the decomposition of the body through digital media as a critical theme, where humans offline now experience the patterns of networked dynamics in corporeal phenomena. This idea ties into the principle of quorum sensing, where the body, once distinct and autonomous, becomes part of a larger, interconnected ecosystem. Much like microbial communities, which coordinate their actions based on signals from others in the environment, post-Internet bodies are no longer isolated entities but part of an expansive network of influence and interaction. Bockowski exemplifies this shift through the performance art of mutant bodies, which encapsulate the decaying and transforming nature of human identity. This "fungoid polymorphology" represents the extreme mutations humans undergo as they merge with nonhuman technologies and bodies, performing the "ephemeral" and "fungoid" qualities of post-Internet existence. The essence of post-Internet life, Bockowski argues, is embodied in the performance of a body undergoing constant flux, decomposition, and transformation, where the boundaries between self and other—human and nonhuman—are continuously redefined. Bockowski’s analysis of media in the post-Internet era draws heavily from Bruno Latour’s concept of “spheres” and Peter Sloterdijk’s notion of “biotech spheres.” These "spheres" are systems of media technologies that operate as both independent and interconnected agents, continuously interacting with the human body and nonhuman entities. The concept of quorum sensing in microbial life becomes pertinent here: just as bacteria sense the concentration of their peers to initiate coordinated responses, media technologies, through their interactivity and connectivity, create collective shifts in human behavior and identity. Sloterdijk's "symbolic air-conditioning systems" suggest that media are the agents that condition human bodies to interact in novel ways, merging human subjectivity with nonhuman elements. In Bockowski’s framework, the idea of the body as a "bio-capsule" embedded within networks reinforces the idea that the post-Internet human is part of a greater ecosystem of media, bodies, and technologies. Bodies are no longer autonomous but exist as interconnected entities within a global system of media and communication that continuously mutates them. This "systemic relation" aligns with the processes of quorum sensing, where the collective action of individual agents (be they bacteria or bodies) determines the future trajectory of the network. Bockowski’s exploration of “fungoid decomposition” provides a visceral representation of this networked, interconnected degradation. Just as fungi feed on decaying organic matter, the body in Bockowski’s performance art embodies the decomposition of human identity through technology. This decomposition is not merely physical but cultural and philosophical. By repurposing "zombie media," Bockowski references the decay of technological infrastructure as a microcosm of societal decay, where humans become the "wasted" products of technological obsolescence. The human body, like decaying media, becomes part of a larger network of consumption and rebirth, mirroring the actions of microbial life forms engaging in quorum sensing. Each signal emitted by the body is part of an ongoing, irreversible process of transformation, where death and rebirth coexist. This parallel between fungi and the human condition highlights the resilience of decay as a driving force for new forms of life and identity. The body in Bockowski’s framework is not static; it is in a constant state of flux, decomposing and reassembling itself through the media systems that surround it. This shift represents a profound departure from earlier ideas of identity as fixed or permanent. Instead, identity becomes a networked phenomenon, shaped by the interactions of technology, human bodies, and nonhuman entities. Bockowski’s mutant performers, through their distorted corporeality, embody this transformation, enacting the slow, perpetual decomposition of human identity as a mode of transcendence. Their performance is not a denial of the body’s decay but an embrace of it, highlighting the continual process of mutation and transformation inherent in the technological landscape. Rooted in the work of Ben Woodard's Slime Dynamics (2012), Bockowski proposes a view of media as a network of microbial activity, emphasizing the role of fungi in blurring the lines between organic and technological life. Through this lens, the Internet and virtual environments are depicted not as isolated networks of humans or machines, but as interconnected systems reminiscent of the behavior of microbes and fungi—slimy, decentralized, and capable of emergent intelligence. At the heart of Bockowski’s analysis is the idea that the human experience of media is deeply entangled with nonhuman life forms, particularly fungi. Fungi, as Woodard points out, are “the media of microbial agency,” embodying the transition from microbial to macroscopic life. These organisms are characterized by their ability to remold the microbial on a scale visible to humans, forming networks that surpass the boundaries between individual cells and create vast, interconnected systems. In the microbial world, such as the slime molds or fungal networks, intelligence emerges not from a centralized brain but from decentralized, collective processes. This “slimy moment” of collective intelligence can be seen as a form of emergent behavior, which directly correlates with the functioning of networked media like the Internet. The concept of quorum sensing, a process through which microbial communities communicate and coordinate behavior, provides an insightful framework to understand the phenomena described by Bockowski. In quorum sensing, individual organisms send and receive chemical signals to regulate collective behavior. This process is a prime example of microbial “intelligence,” wherein no single organism is responsible for the decisions made by the group. Instead, it is the collective action of the entire microbial network that dictates outcomes. In much the same way, Bockowski suggests that the Internet and other media platforms function as spaces for collective media processes, where individual human actions combine to create larger, emergent behaviors, much like the intelligent responses of microbial communities. Bockowski’s vision extends the microbial metaphor into the realm of human bodies interacting with media technologies. As Woodard observes, fungi bodies challenge the “solidity of other bodies,” disrupting the human body’s conceptual boundaries. The decomposition of the body, as a result of fungi’s action, represents the dissolution of the body’s coherence, paralleling the disintegration of human subjectivity in the age of media. The “slimy shifts” of media technologies reshape the human form, rendering it less a static entity and more a fluid, interconnected network of microbial and technological interactions. This transformation mirrors what Donna Haraway describes in her cyborg manifesto: the posthuman subject is “committed to partiality, irony, intimacy and perversity.” Haraway’s cyborg is a hybrid, resisting unity and identity. Bockowski adopts a similar position, suggesting that post-Internet mutant performances, which adopt fungal forms, illustrate the mutation of the human species beyond the confines of biological identity. Technology, in this case, serves as both the environment and the agent of transformation, extending human experience into a liminal space where biological and technological boundaries are porous. Through the quorum sensing, we can understand this transformation as an enactment of the dynamic processes that govern collective microbial behavior. Just as bacteria and fungi rely on environmental signals to coordinate actions, human bodies, when mediated through technologies, respond to external stimuli in unpredictable, emergent ways. The fragmentation of the human body in the virtual world, where it becomes a series of shifting, mutable entities, parallels the way in which microbial communities continually adapt and reconfigure in response to their environments. Bockowski’s work engages with a concept of evolutionary theory that moves beyond traditional humanistic frameworks. He draws upon the work of Lynn Margulis to propose that human evolution is not merely a product of genetic inheritance but of symbiotic relationships with microbes. In this vision, human identity is never singular but always in flux, shaped by microbial life forms that coalesce within the human body. Similarly, technology is not an external force acting upon the body, but an integral part of its ongoing evolutionary process. The idea of “symbiogenesis”—the merging of different species to form new hybrid entities—suggests a posthuman future in which human bodies and technologies form new, hybrid life forms. This notion resonates with Bockowski’s depiction of mutant performers who adopt the logic of symbiosis to create new forms of existence. Media, in this context, is not merely a reflection of human thought but an active participant in the process of life’s transformation. Media technologies themselves are extensions of the microbial networks that underpin all life, and as such, they create new hybrid bodies that blur the line between organic and technological existence. At its core, Bockowski’s work invites a reevaluation of how we perceive the relationship between media technologies, the human body, and microbial life. He challenges the traditional view that media is a tool through which humans exercise control over nature, suggesting instead that media are interconnected with the life processes of all organisms, including microbes and fungi. As Woodard and Amato suggest, the human obsession with controlling microbes and separating ourselves from “the dust and dirt” of the world has led to a narrow view of media as something that isolates us from nature. However, Bockowski posits that media, far from being a form of abstraction that distances humans from the natural world, are instead a form of life that redefines human existence within the larger biosphere. The idea of the Internet as a new form of “dust”—a medium that connects humans to the microbial processes of life—reinforces the notion that media are not separate from the life processes of the world but are integral to them. In this view, the digital networks we inhabit are not disembodied abstractions but are embedded in the materiality of microbial life. These networks, through their interactions with human and nonhuman bodies, facilitate a process of collective intelligence that transcends the boundaries of human cognition and identity. Bockowski's theory of “fungoid decomposition” encapsulates a vision of technology that blurs the boundaries between human and nonhuman agency, drawing on Frank Ryan's insights into microbial life. Ryan proposes that microbes, through mechanisms of “natural genetic engineering,” perform actions beyond the traditional scope of Darwinian evolution, influencing the very essence of species evolution. This view is further augmented by Bockowski’s contention that the human body, while biologically distinct, is inextricably linked to microbial networks, without which our survival would be impossible. As he writes, “human bodies actually are microbial,” a profound statement that reframes the human organism as an intricate, microbially governed system, rather than as an isolated, autonomous entity. The notion of "microbial intelligence" is central to Bockowski's critique of humanist thought. He cites Anthony Trewavas’ work on the intelligence of plants and microbes, which critiques the anthropocentric and often mechanistic view of intelligence that has dominated Western thought. Trewavas’ claim that “brains are not necessary for intelligence” shifts the focus from human-centric cognitive systems to the distributed intelligence of microbial networks. According to Trewavas, the behavior of organisms like slime molds illustrates that intelligence can emerge not from centralized processing but from decentralized, self-organizing systems. Bockowski extends this idea, proposing that the technological networks humans create today—such as the internet—mimic the decentralized structures of microbial intelligence, creating an interface between human and microbial life. This microbial intelligence, which Bockowski argues exists at the core of biological systems, is manifested in media technologies that break down human cognitive barriers and allow us to experience the world through microbial scales. In this light, the concept of quorum sensing—the communication process by which microorganisms coordinate behavior based on population density—becomes a crucial framework for understanding Bockowski's argument. Quorum sensing in microbial colonies exemplifies a form of intelligence that transcends individual cells, organizing collective behavior that influences the entire ecosystem. Bockowski suggests that, much like microbial colonies, human technology may evolve through similar decentralized, bottom-up processes. This shift in perspective positions humans not as the apex of evolution but as participants in a larger, more complex network of life that is shaped by microbial processes. Bockowski draws on the work of mycologist Paul Stamets, whose concept of "Mycelial Internet" emphasizes the ecological and communicative roles of fungi in maintaining the biosphere. Stamets notes that fungi perform critical bioremediation functions, breaking down toxic substances and facilitating the regeneration of ecosystems. In Bockowski's vision, fungi represent a media form that embodies intelligence in ways that human technology has only begun to recognize. His description of fungi as "living machines" echoes this notion, suggesting that the decentralized, adaptive behaviors of fungi could inform a new paradigm for human technology—one that is guided not by domination and control but by symbiosis and remediation. The fungi's role in decomposing and regenerating environments, for instance, serves as a model for rethinking technological progress in terms of sustainability and ecological responsibility. Bockowski's "decomposition media" represents a radical departure from conventional technological narratives that emphasize progress through consumption and production. Instead, it proposes a future shaped by the ongoing interaction between human technologies and the microbial world. These "living-oriented" technologies challenge the hyper-structure of human-centered life, inviting new forms of ecological and technological collaboration. The “Mycotopia” envisioned by Stamets, for example, offers a vision where fungi are not merely tools for human use but active agents in restoring ecological balance. In this context, Bockowski invites us to reconsider the value of decay, decomposition, and the complex cycles of life that support technological existence. Piotr Bockowski’s analysis of the post-Internet mutant performers taps into a profound dialogue between the decay of human corporeality and the rise of technological mediation, drawing heavily from the works of Paul Virilio and Felix Guattari. Virilio and Guattari present the decomposition of the body as an inevitable consequence of technological acceleration. As Bockowski highlights, Virilio’s concept of “devolution” through technological mediation proposes a world where the linear progress of civilization is abandoned in favor of a backwards, microbial return to the past. This "regression of matter" is not merely metaphorical; it is a real, systemic breakdown where the integrity of the body—both physical and social—is eroded by technology. Bockowski’s discussion of this in the context of post-Internet mutant performers emphasizes how these decomposed bodies are redefined through their relationship with global communication networks. Here, Virilio and Lotringer’s notion of the "territorial body"—the integration of the human body with its environment through technology—becomes pivotal. From a quorum sensing perspective, the human body can be viewed as a network of microbial agents—each responding to external signals, whether technological or environmental. Just as bacteria communicate and aggregate in response to environmental factors, human bodies, mediated by technology, aggregate into new, decentralized forms of existence. These bodies, no longer confined to the anatomical boundaries of the physical self, become part of a larger global organism, responsive to the technologies that extend their senses and capabilities. The territorial body is not merely a physical or geographic entity; it is the aggregate of humans’ relationship with technology and the environment. In this model, the decomposition of the body is not a mere disintegration but a transformation into a new form of existence—an evolving and ever-morphing collective organism. Bockowski’s notion of “fungoid decomposition” draws further on this concept by suggesting that technological decay can be understood through a biological framework. The example of fungi as both the destroyers and redeemers of urban spaces reflects a form of microbial symbiosis, where decay and decomposition lead to new forms of life. This mirrors the human body’s interaction with technology, where the breakdown of traditional bodily structures through technological mediation (e.g., genetic engineering, cybernetics) gives rise to new bodily identities—fluid, mutable, and interconnected. In this context, the “decomposing social body” is not a tragic loss but a process of reconfiguration, akin to the regenerative functions of fungi within urban decay. The human body, subject to technological transformation, becomes both a victim of and a participant in the larger ecological processes of the planet. Furthermore, the extended body as conceptualized by Bockowski aligns with the microbial communities involved in quorum sensing. Just as bacterial populations coordinate their behavior based on environmental feedback, humans, increasingly dependent on digital networks, also adapt to the signals and rhythms dictated by technological infrastructures. Bockowski’s invocation of Virilio and Lotringer’s view of the global human body as a “phantom limb” underscores the collective, interconnected nature of modern existence. The Earth, mediated by technology, becomes a part of the extended human body—a body that is no longer confined to flesh and bones but is distributed across networks of communication, transportation, and environmental manipulation. Bockowski’s exploration of post-Internet performers as embodiments of this decomposition further emphasizes the need for a new understanding of identity and agency in a hyper-mediated world. These performers, in their engagement with the decaying urban environments and the postcolonial flux of global migration, mirror the decentralized, collective intelligence found in microbial communities. As with quorum sensing, where individual bacteria respond to collective signals, the bodies of post-Internet mutants respond to the signals of technological environments, collectively altering their physical and social states. In this sense, Bockowski presents a vision of the body as no longer a singular entity but a process—an ongoing negotiation between the human and the nonhuman, the organic and the technological. The symbiosis of human bodies with the technologies that extend them can be seen as a new form of life—a techno-organic hybrid, navigating a world where decay and renewal are intertwined. Bockowski’s integration of Virilio’s ideas on media acceleration and decay with microbial metaphors provides a critical framework for understanding the future of the human body in an age dominated by digital and environmental mutations. Just as microbial communities thrive on decomposition, so too do the bodies of the post-Internet performers, embracing a new, distributed form of existence that blurs the boundaries between human and machine, the organic and the technological. Bockowski invites us to reconsider squatting not simply as an act of social defiance, but as a form of performative art, akin to a microbial ecosystem, wherein life forms, both human and nonhuman, engage in continuous processes of transformation. Bockowski’s notion of squatting as a “filter for political machinery,” as well as his comparison of squatters to fungi in their ability to operate outside the control of mainstream political systems, forms a central pillar of his argument. The squatters, in Bockowski’s view, are akin to “biological filters for industrial technology,” creating a new, emergent value from their position outside established structures of power. The act of squatting, then, is not merely about occupying space, but about fostering a creative and autonomous subculture. This resonates with the concept of quorum sensing, where individual agents (be they microbial or human) communicate and act collectively to create an emergent order that defies conventional frameworks. The biological metaphor of fungi, as biological agents of transformation and remediation, underscores Bockowski’s conceptualization of squatting as both an ecological and performative act. Squatters, like fungi, thrive in environments of decay and neglect, making them filters and revitalizers of the spaces they inhabit. Bockowski writes, “Squatting can be seen as an example of a remediation process based on spontaneous communication that revitalizes exhausted urban environments,” positioning squatters as both passive recipients and active participants in the remaking of their environment. The idea of spontaneous communication mirrors the microbial phenomena of quorum sensing, where individual microbes communicate to form collective behavior that can alter the environment around them. Bockowski’s engagement with the concept of Chronic Illness is another critical element in this ecological framework, as it emphasizes the porous and mutating nature of the body. He draws upon the idea of trans-corporeality—where bodies are not separate from their environment but are constantly influenced and altered by microbial agents. This bodily mutation aligns with the concept of quorum sensing at a molecular level: just as microbes react to environmental conditions and alter their behavior accordingly, human bodies in Bockowski’s work are seen as active participants in a dialogue with their environment, shaped by external forces (in this case, fungi and other microbial life forms). Bockowski writes, “Chronic Illness emphasises the penetration of human bodies by microbial agencies and links them in a critical manner to the fungoid environment,” positioning the human body as a site of continuous interaction with nonhuman agents. The emphasis on vulnerability and porousness within Chronic Illness can be read through the lens of quorum sensing, where the body becomes a reactive entity, continuously responding to the unseen and often unpredictable forces within its environment. The human performers in Bockowski’s work, who engage with the fungoid life forms of the Dungeons, demonstrate this trans-corporeal engagement as their bodies and behaviors become transformed in response to their surroundings. Just as microbes signal one another to initiate a collective behavior, human bodies in these spaces engage in a form of performative communication with the nonhuman entities around them, shifting the boundaries between the biological, the technological, and the social. Bockowski’s conceptualization of the Chronic Illness performance events as sites of microbial agency further complicates our understanding of the relationship between human and nonhuman actors. He writes, “The diversity of fungi, slime moulds and other microbial species... has been manifesting itself in the dynamic relations to the multiple contaminations of the space by the human performers’ bodies,” suggesting that microbes are not merely passive elements in the environment but active participants in the unfolding drama. This echoes the quorum-sensing mechanism, where each individual microbe contributes to a larger collective behavior, shaping the interactions between all agents in the system. In this context, Bockowski’s performative art becomes a form of microbial dramaturgy. The microbes’ behaviors are not predetermined but are instead triggered by the performative actions of the human bodies that inhabit the space. Much like scientific experiments that create the conditions for new life forms to emerge (as in Latour’s work on Pasteur’s fermentation experiments), Bockowski’s events create a space for microbial life to “perform” in response to human activity. These performances are not just a matter of human agency; rather, they are a co-production, where both human and microbial actors influence one another in a complex, dynamic, and continuously evolving system. The Dungeons of Polymorphous Pan are emblematic of Bockowski’s broader thesis on the performative potential of squatted spaces. Named after the polymorphic deity Pan, the space becomes a site of exploration for bodily and environmental mutations. The concept of polymorphy in this context refers not just to the fluidity of sexual identities but to a broader, more radical mutability—a mutability shared by the nonhuman agents (fungi, microbes) and the human bodies that enter the space. The Dungeons, as Bockowski describes, are a place of “polymorphous decomposition,” where the boundaries between human and nonhuman life are constantly shifting. This polymorphous characteristic aligns closely with the concept of quorum sensing, wherein the communication and coordination of microbial life lead to the emergence of complex patterns of behavior and interaction. Bockowski’s performance art can thus be understood as a form of ecological quorum sensing, wherein both human and microbial agents contribute to the creation of new, emergent forms of life and communication. By fostering a dynamic interaction between the human body and its nonhuman environment, Bockowski envisions a new form of sociality—one that is grounded in the mutuality and interdependence of all agents, both human and microbial. At the heart of Bockowski’s artistic project is the question of interspecies communication, particularly the molecular dialogue facilitated through quorum sensing. Quorum sensing, a process by which microorganisms communicate based on their population density, offers a fascinating lens through which to analyze the interrelations between the human and nonhuman in The Dungeons of Polymorphous Pan. In Bockowski's performances, humans and microbes engage in a performative feedback loop: humans introduce elements of decay and waste that nourish the microbes, while the microbes, in turn, influence the performers’ bodily states and actions. This mutual interaction can be seen as an enactment of quorum sensing, where the actions of each entity—human and nonhuman—are calibrated to the presence and influence of the other. The space itself, a degraded underground area in Holloway, London, becomes a bioactive medium in which microbial life flourishes. This is not merely a passive environment but an active participant in the performance, influencing the performers and the audience alike. As microbial growth shapes the space, it calls attention to the porous boundaries between life forms, and through its very presence, it questions the stability of the human body. This porousness is at the core of Bockowski’s artistic practice, where the human body is not just a performer but also a vessel that interacts with microbial life in a continuous process of transformation. The intersection of technological and organic worlds, as explored in The Dungeons of Polymorphous Pan, offers a critique of both human exceptionalism and the separation between nature and technology. Just as Ihde and Barad explore the ways in which human and nonhuman agents are intertwined through bodily experience and materiality, Bockowski’s work challenges the distinctions between human agency and microbial agency. In doing so, it resonates with the concept of horizontal relations between species, an idea championed by thinkers like Heather Paxons, who calls for an embrace of microbes as potential allies rather than threats. In Bockowski’s performances, humans are not masters of the environment; they are participants in a broader ecological performance that involves nonhuman entities as co-actors in the creation of new relational forms. The exploration of fungi and microbes as agents of transformation also opens up a metaphysical dimension to the inquiry. Reza Negarestani’s speculative philosophy, particularly in Cyclonopedia, draws attention to the deep, telluric life processes of microbes beneath the Earth's surface, offering a framework for understanding how these life forms influence human cultures and technologies. In this view, the fungal and microbial processes that permeate the Dungeons can be understood as a form of “telluric lubrication” that smooths the interactions between human bodies and nonhuman agents. This microbial life, far from being passive, actively influences the structure and performance of both human and nonhuman entities. In The Dungeons of Polymorphous Pan, this speculative, metaphysical quality is embodied in the fungus itself. The fungal excrement becomes both a medium and a performer, influencing the space, the bodies within it, and the relationships that emerge. By recognizing the agency of fungi and microbes, Bockowski’s work evokes a vision of bioactive media that transcends traditional notions of technological or organic determinism. Rather than viewing microbes as passive, subordinated entities, Bockowski’s performances allow them to occupy a position of agency, mediating the human experience and reshaping the body’s interaction with the world. Quorum sensing, a microbial communication process, allows populations to coordinate behavior through chemical signaling. In Bockowski’s account, decay aesthetics and microbial agency create a performative ecology where slime, fungi, and human bodies intersect. The microbial discharge and slime molds in the Dungeons operate as a bio-lubricant for transgressive acts, echoing Negarestani’s assertion of microbial agency as “anonymous architects behind human cultures.” These processes evoke not just a metaphorical resonance but a literal choreography, where microbial dynamics sculpt the trans-corporeal engagements between performers and their environment. In both microbial ecologies and performance spaces, quorum sensing functions as a collective intelligence that transcends individual organisms. The “slimy medium” described by Bockowski fosters new forms of life, paralleling how quorum sensing enables microbial colonies to adapt and thrive. This constant interplay of decay and rebirth is reflected in the ephemeral fungal forms that populate the Dungeons, whose transient beauty evokes the same “disgusting elusiveness of the abject blob” that Negarestani situates as central to the deconstruction of symbolic systems. Bockowski writes, “The frequently invading floods...create a nourishing lubrication for the new forms that breed, after the washed-out ones disappear.” This dynamic aligns with quorum sensing, which regulates microbial growth and adaptation to shifting environmental pressures. Decay becomes not merely an aesthetic but a functional substrate for collective action and transformation. Stacy Alaimo’s notion of “trans-corporeality” posits that bodies and environments are inseparably linked through microbial and material flows. The performers in the Dungeons, smeared with microbial discharge and engaging with the decaying infrastructure, embody this principle. Quorum sensing underscores the kinship between human and microbial bodies, both of which respond and adapt to environmental signals. As Alaimo notes, “Human flesh is a relative of dirt,” and Bockowski’s chronic illness performances amplify this relationship, transforming bodily dysfunction into a site of ecological and social critique. Bockowski’s Synthetic Organs performance exemplifies how microbial and human bodies co-constitute each other through transgressive acts. The synthetic body parts manipulated during the performance mirror the chaotic, responsive organization of microbial colonies guided by quorum sensing. The act’s grotesque intimacy—where the performer “breastfeeds the parasite” or offers their body to “alien ancestors”—underscores a dissolution of boundaries, echoing Karen Barad’s concept of “intra-action,” where entities emerge through mutual influence. Richard Crow’s integration of Schreber’s delusional organ dynamics with live bodily sounds further emphasizes the uncanny agency of microbial life. The shifting and disappearing organs Schreber described resonate with the mutability of microbial collectives, which quorum sensing orchestrates in a similarly elusive dance. Quorum sensing, as both a biological mechanism and a metaphor, illuminates the Dungeons’ decay aesthetic as an active, communicative process. The floods and fungal growths that challenge social norms through their sensory repulsions mirror how microbial colonies use quorum sensing to negotiate communal behaviors. The performers’ acts of transgression become extensions of this microbial choreography, fostering what Bockowski calls “a new bodily identity” that resists societal norms of health and hygiene. Moreover, the recursive interplay of decay and renewal—where “microbial corpse juice serves as a slimy medium”—reflects a deeper critique of anthropocentric values. The performers’ embrace of the abject and the monstrous reclaims the symbolic systems that traditionally alienate the human from the microbial. Quorum sensing exemplifies a material-discursive phenomenon in which microbial entities coordinate behaviors based on population density. This process underscores the ontological inseparability of individuals and collectives, resonating with Barad’s claim that “the world as phenomena is a relational tangle that ontologically precedes the relata.” In this view, microbial communities and their signaling mechanisms become dynamic intra-actions, where individuality emerges as a “local and temporary possibility” within the web of material entanglements. Bockowski’s Synthetic Organs extends this concept by situating the human body as a site of transhuman entanglements. In this performance, bodily boundaries dissolve through “diverse material interventions,” illustrating how the body’s meaning shifts in response to its intra-actions with nonhuman agents. Synthetic Organs foregrounds the performativity of matter, echoing Barad’s assertion that “language cannot function as a representational abstraction separated from the world, because it is always already a material rearrangement of the world.” In quorum sensing, the production and reception of signaling molecules constitute a performative act—a “becoming” of microbial collectivity through iterative processes. Similarly, Bockowski’s Chronic Illness performances highlight the performative nature of life itself. By staging acts of “bodily deformity and the degeneration of organic matter,” these performances reveal the generative potential of decay. Alaimo’s observation that “dirt demonstrates all agency without agents” underscores the vitality embedded in decomposition, a process central to both microbial quorum sensing and Bockowski’s aesthetic explorations. Bockowski’s immersion in “dirty liquidity” within the Dungeons of Polymorphous Pan further situates his work within a broader critique of anthropocentric ‘health’ paradigms. The “fleshy matrix of generativity” invoked by Alaimo aligns with the “liquefaction of the body” in Susan Sontag’s analysis of tuberculosis as a romanticized disease. The Dungeons thus emerge as a liminal space where human and nonhuman agencies converge, redefining life as a “perpetual becoming.” Quorum sensing’s conceptual resonance with transhumanism lies in its emphasis on communication and collective intelligence. Bockowski’s “fungi media” projects amplify this connection, using media technologies to mediate between human and microbial scales. Inspired by Nick Land’s notion of “geotrauma,” Bockowski explores the traumatic origins of life as “layers of repressed intensities” embedded in Earth’s sediments. His performances evoke the “chronic disorders” described by Land, situating the Dungeons as a site of therapeutic re-engagement with microbial ancestry. The “dark water” of the Dungeons exemplifies quorum sensing on a transhuman scale, where microbial life intersects with technological mediation. Participants in Bockowski’s performances navigate this bioactive liquidity, experiencing the “porousness” of bodies and spaces. This immersion mirrors the communal dynamics of microbial populations, emphasizing the co-constitutive nature of human and nonhuman agencies. Bockowski’s Synthetic Organs and Chronic Illness performances materialize this challenge, enacting Barad’s agential realism through performative engagements with decay, deformity, and microbial vitality. By foregrounding the relational entanglements of life, these works invite a rethinking of ethics and agency beyond anthropocentric frameworks. In the microbial languages of quorum sensing and the material-discursive acts of Synthetic Organs, we find a call to embrace the “fleshy matrix” of existence in all its tangled, generative complexity. Quorum sensing operates through chemical signals that enable bacteria to synchronize behaviors critical to survival, such as biofilm formation and virulence. Analogously, Mackay’s interpretation of geotrauma positions life on Earth as a kind of biospheric quorum sensing—a coordination of microbial and geological histories encoded in the planet’s strata. “The entire surface of the earth,” Mackay writes, “acts as a living fossil record, a memory bank rigorously laid down over unimaginable aeons.” This conceptualization suggests that microbial collectivity underpins both the origins and ongoing evolution of terrestrial life, framing human individuality as secondary to microbial networks. Land’s analysis of “cosmic repression” highlights the biosphere’s dependency on the Sun’s energy, internalized through prehistoric microbial sedimentation. This “internalization” mirrors quorum sensing: just as bacterial communities regulate their internal processes in response to environmental cues, Earth’s biosphere reflects an intricate dance between external solar inputs and internal geological processes. The repression of molten Earth into a stable biosphere parallels the suppression of bacterial individuality within biofilms, where collective behavior supersedes individual autonomy. According to Mackay and Brassier, geotrauma—the repression of proto-life deep within Earth’s crust—produced evolutionary trajectories favoring oxygen-dependent organisms. They argue that “thermic waves and deranged particles” from the planet’s core resonate in eukaryotic cells and silicon chips alike. This evokes a profound continuity between geological forces and microbial ontologies, aligning with quorum sensing’s premise that communication and collective action define the boundaries of life. From this perspective, the biosphere is not merely a passive repository of microbial traces but an active, self-organizing system. The CCRU’s speculation that “human cultures are encrypted messages of the underground layers” underscores the recursive relationship between life and its geological substrate. Such insights challenge anthropocentric paradigms, positioning microbial collectivity as the foundational layer upon which human civilization is built. Quorum sensing destabilizes notions of individuality by foregrounding the primacy of collective microbial behavior. Similarly, Woodard’s “necrotic vitalism” posits decay as life’s essential condition, where “thought becomes a gaseous rot.” This philosophical framework resonates with quorum sensing, which demonstrates how bacterial communities thrive through coordinated decay processes, such as the dissolution of host tissues during infection. The “dark becoming” of microbial collectivity challenges clear distinctions between life and death, individual and collective. Performances in spaces like the “Dungeons of Polymorphous Pan,” with their humid, fungal aesthetics, illustrate the performative potential of these concepts. Participants, immersed in a “mutant aesthetics of bodily performance,” embody a collective fungal entity, mirroring bacterial quorum sensing as a form of distributed agency. Marshall McLuhan’s concept of media as extensions of the human body further illuminates the intersections between quorum sensing and geotrauma. Media technologies, like microbial networks, function as systems of communication and coordination, extending human cognition into planetary and even cosmic realms. McLuhan’s assertion that “architecture extends the heating system of the organism” finds a parallel in quorum sensing’s capacity to extend microbial influence beyond individual cells into environmental niches. This techno-biological synergy is explored in Ballard’s The Drowned World, where the post-technological transformation of Earth evokes microbial resurgence. Ballard’s "primeval swamp” reflects a geotraumatic return to prehuman microbial dominance, echoing quorum sensing’s capacity to mediate collective action in response to environmental flux. In this narrative, human individuality dissolves into a “necropolis of catacombs,” revealing the underlying microbial networks that sustain life. Quorum sensing offers a powerful metaphor for rethinking life as an interconnected, geotraumatic process. By highlighting microbial collectivity, it bridges speculative philosophies of decay, planetary trauma, and technological extension. As Mackay and Brassier suggest, “all cultures of human civilization… are compulsive-repetitive symptoms of geotrauma”—a notion deeply resonant with quorum sensing’s emphasis on communication and cooperation over individuality. The microbial ontology underlying quorum sensing thus provides a model for understanding the biosphere not as a discrete system of organisms but as a dynamic, interconnected web of life, decay, and regeneration. The concept of mutant performance aligns with the geo-speculative explorations of the CCRU, where sound interrogates the Earth’s deep time. As Professor D.C. Barker proposes, “fast forward seismology…to hear the Earth scream,” the repressed energy of prehistorical life reveals itself as seismic echoes. These echoes embody the dynamics of evolution—not as a linear causality but as involution, where life folds into itself, mediated by the decomposition of fungi media and the implosion of the human body. This infolding mirrors Negarestani’s “pore pressure of the hole complex,” where the “hidden writing” of material spaces emerges. The cavities of the Dungeons, as Bockowski describes, provide a moist nexus where decay and memory gaps disrupt chronological narratives, creating “abrupt schizophrenic katabases, personality-pulverizing blackouts.” The plot holes of these narratives parallel the fungal networks, evoking dispersion and multiplicity in identity and material behavior. Quorum sensing, the microbial communication through chemical signals, reveals how collective intelligence operates within decomposition. Negarestani’s insights into dust as a mediator of microbial life underscore this notion: “Dust particles originate from dark carriers…domains of invisible hazards.” The dust-mediated sporulation becomes a bacterial archive of ancient data, aligning with Bockowski’s fungal media, where decay is a medium for life’s perpetuation. The Institution of Rot, curated by Richard Crow, exemplifies this ethos. Crow’s work within decaying architecture, where fungal colonies and microbial processes document performative actions, embodies the material intelligence of rot. This aligns with Bennett’s *Vibrant Matter*, where even degraded forms of matter possess “vitality that persists even in trash” (2010, 6). The chronic illnesses performed in these spaces disrupt human exceptionalism, showcasing bodies as porous, mutable containers for life’s sedimentation. Lyotard’s critique of ideological constructs finds resonance in decomposition as a social and philosophical framework. His declaration that “what is revolutionary is precisely to hope for nothing” encapsulates the anti-ideological micropolitics enacted in Bockowski’s Chronic Illness performances. By embracing decay and its transformative possibilities, these performances dismantle the binaries of life and death, human and nonhuman. Negarestani’s “ungrounding of exhumation” and the “necropolis of dust” challenge ontological solidity, offering a perspective where life survives through disintegration. The microbial and fungal entities that penetrate human bodies during decomposition dissolve the boundaries between species, promoting a fluid, hybrid vitality that transcends individual organisms. As Negarestani observes, “In decay, the being survives by blurring into other beings…without losing all its ontological registers.” In Intelligible Devolution, quorum sensing is not merely a biological process but a heuristic for rethinking communication, materiality, and existence. By examining fungal media through this lens, Bockowski underscores the intelligence inherent in material systems. The “behavior principle” proposed by Negarestani transforms materiality into a living problem, where intelligence emerges through manipulation and interaction. This transference of behaviors between forms—fungi to media, decay to performance—provides a framework for understanding life as a continuum of interactions. The Chronic Illness events embody this principle, re-enacting online corporeal manipulations in physical spaces, thereby collapsing distinctions between digital and organic, individual and collective. Quorum sensing is a cooperative mechanism through which microorganisms synchronize their behavior in response to population density. Similarly, the mediated bodies described by Bockowski reflect a quorum-like phenomenon where individual subjectivities dissolve into collective networks. “Humans undo themselves partially through their participation in electric media networks,” writes Bockowski, emphasizing the dissolution of the anthropocentric subject. This disintegration mirrors the quorum sensing of fungi and bacteria, where individuality is subordinated to communal survival strategies, enabling complex adaptive responses. Through this framework, the mediated body becomes an emergent entity, shaped by the "fungal media" that Bockowski describes as “creative devolution”. Media technologies, like fungal networks, act as distributed systems that enable hybrid, trans-species embodiments, challenging fixed notions of identity and corporeality. Bockowski introduces the concept of “fungosexual replication” as a departure from traditional modes of sexual reproduction. This process, facilitated by the hybridization of media and biology, is evocative of quorum sensing in fungal colonies, where spore dispersal and mycelial growth adapt to environmental conditions. By redefining reproduction as a mediated, collective act, Bockowski positions human bodies as sites of transmutation, “replicating life in a new way”. Drawing on Robert Mitchell’s concept of media vitalism, Bockowski frames biomedia as agents of transformation, not merely communication. Media, like fungal spores, propagate new forms of life by interacting with biological substrates. This parallels the Tissue Culture & Art Project’s semi-living sculptures, which use bioengineered tissues as both artistic and experimental media. As Mitchell observes, such practices “explore what life can do,” pushing beyond the boundaries of biological determinism into speculative futures. Bockowski’s discussion of fungal media foregrounds the symbiotic relationship between decomposition and regeneration. Fungi, as agents of decay, facilitate the transformation of organic matter into nutrient-rich substrates that sustain life. This dynamic is mirrored in bioart practices like Officina Corpuscoli’s Mycelium Shroud, which embodies the interplay of human decay and fungal growth. Such projects exemplify what Bockowski calls “reconnecting to growth through decay,” a process that aligns with the posthuman aesthetics of hybridity and flux. Performance art, too, becomes a medium for exploring these symbiotic transformations. As Bockowski notes, technologically mediated performances “open up a new form of vitalism for human body acts.” Salvia’s digitally augmented bodies, for instance, evoke the fluidity and multiplicity of fungal networks, dissolving boundaries between the human and the nonhuman, the organic and the synthetic. The concept of quorum sensing provides a compelling metaphor for the collective and interconnected nature of posthuman bodies. As Bockowski illustrates, the mediated body is not a singular entity but a nexus of influences, from fungal mycelia to digital algorithms. This interconnectedness challenges the Cartesian ideal of the autonomous self, replacing it with a relational ontology grounded in symbiosis and interdependence. Fungosexual replication, as a speculative paradigm, embodies this shift. By aligning human reproduction with the cooperative dynamics of fungal and microbial systems, Bockowski envisions a future where bodies are not fixed entities but processes of becoming. These posthuman bodies, mediated by bioart and technology, exemplify what Kroker calls “body drift,” a state of perpetual transformation and hybridity. Arthur Kroker’s concept of “body drift” encapsulates the dual tendencies of dematerialization and intensified materiality in mediated bodies. As Kroker notes, media technologies dissolve traditional conceptions of the human body, rendering it more fluid and porous. Yet, this dissolution paradoxically coexists with an intensification of corporeality through performativity, as seen in the emergence of “mutant visceralities” that disrupt and reconfigure cultural norms. This dialectic recalls quorum sensing’s ability to blur individual identities within a collective, emphasizing how bodies become nodes in a larger network of mediated interactions. Technological transmutation—whether through prosthetics, online aesthetics, or bio-digital art—creates new modalities of bodily expression. Performers such as Arca and Aun Helden embody this principle, using digital tools to reimagine the human form as transhuman and post-biological. In this sense, the body becomes a desiring machine, to borrow the terminology of Deleuze and Guattari, embedded within an assemblage of social and material networks. Slavoj Žižek’s “spectral materialism” provides a critical framework for understanding how technological mediation reshapes human identity and sexuality. Žižek argues that humans are defined by their prostheses and technological supplements, which become integral to self-experience. This decentering of the human subject aligns with quorum sensing’s collective dynamics, wherein individuality is subsumed into a larger whole. As Žižek notes, the human body, rendered “voided by machines,” loses its material density and becomes “technologically manageable.” This spectralization of matter is evident in the dissolution of traditional sexual norms through media technologies. Performers such as Anthropomorph use prosthetics and online platforms to challenge the boundaries of gender and species, creating hybrid bodies that resist categorization. These transformations echo the bacterial embrace of diversity described by Myra J. Hird, who notes that bacteria “do not discriminate on the basis of sex or gender differences” but instead thrive in symbiotic coexistence. Similarly, queer aesthetics leverage media technologies to disrupt heteronormative paradigms, embracing a radical fluidity that mirrors the collective adaptability of quorum-sensing organisms. Michael Heim’s notion of “erotic ontology” in cyberspace provides additional insight into the interplay between bodily mediation and technological abstraction. Heim observes that virtual reality reduces the body to mathematical patterns, arresting its sensuality in forms of detached ambiguity. Yet, as Heim concludes, the “fleshy world” retains its allure precisely because of its tactile distances and hidden horizons. This tension between virtual and physical realities parallels quorum sensing’s dual nature: while it abstracts individual agency, it simultaneously orchestrates collective behaviors that are deeply grounded in material processes. The technological undoing of human sexuality finds its most radical expression in the dissolution of bio-reproductive norms. Media technologies, as Bockowski notes, facilitate a “post-sexual excitement of mutating fetishisms,” dissolving traditional structures such as marriage and family. Queer subcultures exemplify this shift, adopting playful and political aesthetics that reject self-similar reproduction in favor of symbiotic multiplicity. This embrace of diversity resonates with quorum sensing’s coordination of heterogeneous elements, highlighting how communication—whether biological or technological—shapes and transforms the bodies it mediates. Bockowski aligns queer bodies with a form of mediation that subverts the productivist logic of traditional political economies. As Kroker argues, these bodies "weaken the social structuring orchestrated around sexual reproduction." They act as dissonant nodes within a larger societal quorum, rejecting linear, biological reproductivity in favor of fluid, mutant forms of existence. The artistic practices of figures like Aun Helden embody this mediation by challenging traditional aesthetic norms and biological possibilities. Helden’s reptilian, egg-breeding latex body exemplifies quorum sensing in queer politics: a distributed resistance operating through mediated aesthetics. Such performances blur the boundaries of the human, creating "desired queer species apart from traditions of family culture." The communal resonance of these acts suggests a collective intelligence, akin to bacterial quorum sensing, wherein the marginal proliferate their signals until they alter the social terrain. The concept of “queer rot” in Bockowski’s text links decomposition to a creative, vital materialism. This organic decay, as seen in the work of Arca and Kanda, mirrors the process by which quorum-sensing bacteria convert their environment into fertile terrain for new life. Their collaborative artistic performances, rooted in the aesthetics of decay and fungal overgrowth, generate “techno-embryos” that challenge human-centric paradigms of reproduction. As Kroker notes, queer fertility "is techno-mutagenic par excellence," thriving in the digital ecosystems of the 21st century. By abandoning sexual reproduction, mediated queer bodies subvert biological determinism, instead embracing media-driven processes of replication. These techno-queer assemblages form dynamic alliances, not unlike the microbial communities that quorum sensing orchestrates to adapt and survive. Bockowski’s description of mutant politics emphasizes the internet as a site of censorship and proliferation. While platforms impose restrictions under the guise of "family values," queer artists transform these constraints into opportunities for creative mutation. Bonnie Bakeneko’s controversial performance, in which they consumed their surgically removed nipples, exemplifies this dynamic: a radical reclamation of the body’s materiality that resists algorithmic erasure. This performative resistance parallels the quorum-sensing strategies of microorganisms. Like bacteria coordinating their actions in response to environmental pressures, queer bodies adapt to and subvert the technological systems that attempt to regulate them. These acts create new forms of existence, hybridized through the interplay of organic decay and digital mediation. The quorum-sensing metaphor highlights the capacity of queer biotech aesthetics to foster decentralized, collective resistance. As Kroker predicts, "the future belongs to those dwelling at the borderlines, to those who make of their bio-social-ecological abode the hybrid, the intermediation, the splice." In this sense, queer bodies operate as bio-cultural sensors, amplifying signals of marginalization and reconfiguring them into vectors of posthuman creativity. Bockowski’s analysis of mutant politics reveals a trajectory toward the dissolution of human-centric boundaries. By embracing decomposition, mutation, and technological mediation, queer bodies transcend traditional forms of identity and reproduction. Their collective practices resonate with quorum sensing, fostering a shared vitality that redefines the parameters of existence. Bockowski's treatment of fetishism, as abstracted from bioreproductive functions, aligns with quorum sensing in its capacity to organize collective behaviors around non-reproductive goals. Roman Byrne’s analysis underscores fetishism's role in producing new desires within a cultural context. This abstraction mirrors quorum-sensing microbes coordinating beyond mere survival, generating complex colonies that transcend simple binary interactions. Similarly, Susanna Paasonen’s exploration of online pornography emphasizes its visceral, affective resonance, bypassing traditional sexual reproduction to orchestrate a new cultural economy. Here, the "gut reaction" to bizarre and extreme content parallels microbial quorum sensing’s reliance on chemical cues to provoke collective action. The detachment of sexuality from reproduction—exemplified by niche pornography and its grotesque aesthetics—can be seen as a posthuman analog to microbial endosymbiosis. Paasonen's analysis of online pornography’s "shock modality" resonates with Lynn Margulis’s endosymbiotic theory, wherein ancient bacteria merged to survive resource scarcity. Similarly, the visceral and excessive qualities of online pornography evoke a reconfiguration of human desires, where the microbial metaphor of merging and mutation underpins new forms of cultural and sexual expression. Paasonen’s observation that disgust and fascination coexist in these spaces mirrors quorum sensing’s duality of attraction and repulsion in microbial communities. Bockowski’s notion of "fungosexuality" positions sexual identity as an evolutionary and cultural performance shaped by symbiosis. This framing is deeply rooted in the microbial processes of mutation and hybridization. For instance, Frank Ryan’s theory of virolution posits viral agents as fundamental to human evolution, offering a pre-sexual and trans perspective on identity. This echoes the performative identity strategies highlighted by Nicole Seymour, who emphasizes playfulness and fluidity in the face of environmental and social crises. Such a perspective invites us to consider the quorum-sensing mechanisms of microbes as metaphors for human cultural transformations, wherein collective behaviors redefine individuality and reproduction. Genesis P-Orridge and Lady Jaye’s "Pandrogeny" project epitomizes the convergence of technology, biology, and art to disrupt binary gender norms. Their surgeries and performances create a hybrid body that defies traditional sexual dichotomies, echoing the quorum-sensing microbes’ capacity for collective reorganization. P-Orridge’s assertion that "there is no binary body" reflects an evolutionary worldview akin to microbial symbiosis, where identity and functionality emerge from shared systems rather than fixed categories. The "nonbinary universe" they articulate resonates with the idea that cultural and biological systems are inherently mutable, driven by creativity and experimentation. In Bockowski's work, the invasive intertwining of technology and biology disrupts traditional boundaries of sexual reproduction, suggesting instead a “technological replication” that echoes the cooperative dynamics of microbial networks. As Eduardo Kac notes, “Technology intertwines with life processes inside human bodies,” fostering corporeal mutations and reassembling identities from within. This parallels quorum sensing’s ability to recalibrate collective behavior through molecular signaling, highlighting how both processes function as agents of transformation and reorganization. Bockowski’s concept of fungosexuality and the integration of 3D scanning technologies further illustrates the performative potential of technological decomposition. Drawing on Thacker’s notion of biomedia, these mediations blur the lines between “wet” and “dry” labs, producing hybrid entities that challenge the primacy of sexual reproduction. Such entities, shaped by digital fungoid interventions, mirror quorum sensing’s capacity to foster adaptive, collective reproduction within biological systems. Here, the intimate collaboration between human and nonhuman agents underlines a postvital reconfiguration of life itself. Bockowski’s fungosexuality extends Paglia’s critique of fixed sexual identities by embracing a more fluid and transgressive model of reproduction. Paglia’s discussion of “transsexualism” in ancient mythologies and her exploration of technology as an “alchemical” pursuit align with Bockowski’s vision of primordial nondifferentiation. The “androgynous cult of Athena,” symbolizing “the mind as techne,” resonates with the technological deconstruction of sexual binaries, positioning technology as both a site of rupture and a vector for new possibilities. Quorum sensing’s emphasis on collective decision-making and environmental adaptation offers a potent metaphor for the “fungal” growth of biomedia. In this paradigm, technology facilitates “replication beyond sexuality” by harnessing the body’s intrinsic adaptability. As Thacker observes, biomedia are “particular mediations of the body… in which ‘technology’ appears to disappear altogether.” This dissolution of technological boundaries into biological processes recalls the “monstrous prehuman mud creatures” of Paglia’s alchemical visions, underscoring the primal, chaotic forces at play in technological reproduction. The rise of biohacking subcultures exemplifies the fusion of quorum sensing principles with technological innovation. As Marcus Wohlsen notes, biopunks leverage “DIY wet labs” to “hack the stuff of life,” democratizing access to biotechnology and challenging corporate monopolies. This grassroots approach echoes the collaborative dynamics of quorum sensing, where decentralized networks of microorganisms achieve complex outcomes through collective effort. Similarly, biohackers reimagine the boundaries of human capability by experimenting with the interplay of biology and technology. The “rebodied body” of biomedia, described by Thacker as “a vitalist stance for biotechnology,” epitomizes the post-Internet paradigm of corporeality. This perspective aligns with Bockowski’s critique of “abstract unification theories” that homogenize life’s diversity. Instead, biomedia emphasize the “superdiversity” of life, wherein microorganisms and digital technologies coalesce to produce new forms of embodiment. As Kafka’s reflection on the “variety of the world” suggests, this diversity resists reductionism, advocating for a deeper engagement with life’s multiplicity. Artistic explorations like Jake and Dinos Chapman’s Zygotic Acceleration confront the societal anxieties surrounding biotechnology, cloning, and technological fetishism. By depicting “posthuman clusters of abjection,” their work critiques the normalization of technological manipulation while invoking the primal forces of body replication. This artistic interrogation complements the ethical questions raised by quorum sensing, particularly the balance between collective benefit and individual autonomy. Quorum sensing’s cooperative dynamics underscore the importance of ethical stewardship in the integration of technology and biology. As we navigate the challenges of climate change, resource depletion, and systemic exploitation, the lessons of quorum sensing—adaptability, collaboration, and interdependence—provide valuable insights for forging sustainable futures. In embracing the “material agencies” of biomedia, we must remain mindful of the ethical implications of technological decomposition and its impact on human and nonhuman life. The concept of biohacking challenges the conventional understanding of nature, particularly in its capacity to alter, manipulate, and engineer life forms. Piotr Bockowski's work, especially as expressed through the figure of Zygotic Acceleration, interrogates the tension between technology and natural law, particularly in the context of human biology. By invoking the biological avant-garde with elements like genetic engineering, cloning, and biotechnological aesthetics, Bockowski’s work creates a stark critique of essentialist views of nature. Bockowski asserts, “One of the most striking aspects of biohacking is its assault on the concept of natural law through the technological reinvention of life forms.” This idea is echoed in the radical shift from an essentialist interpretation of biology to a more fluid, technological approach to life itself. The bio-tech children in Zygotic Acceleration embody this reconfiguration, blurring the line between biological reproduction and technological intervention. In a post-human landscape, life is not merely sustained but continuously re-engineered and redefined. Zygotic Acceleration presents these "uncanny progeny" as products of a system where genetic manipulation transcends reproductive norms, illustrating the technologization of biological processes in a manner that defies traditional forms of sexuality and reproduction. Incorporating ideas from Romana Byrne’s theory of sadomasochism and aesthetics, Bockowski examines how sadomasochism functions as a performative art that transcends biological imperatives, particularly reproduction. Byrne suggests that sadomasochism operates “against an essentialized ontology of sexuality,” a concept that resonates deeply with Bockowski’s critique of natural law. Just as sadomasochism reimagines the body as a site of non-reproductive pleasure, biohacking reimagines the body as a medium for endless transformation and reconfiguration. The idea of bodily recomposition is not confined to the realm of fantasy but extends to real-world applications, where genetic engineering and cybernetic augmentation allow for the reworking of what it means to be human. The philosophical implications of such transformations are not only technological but deeply aesthetic. The “theatrical exercise” of biohacking, as Byrne calls it, becomes an art form that creates new possibilities for human desire and interaction. This aligns with Bockowski's vision of biotechnological practices that “flirt with the fetishist,” highlighting a fusion of bio-tech manipulation and sexual aesthetics. By moving beyond traditional conceptions of the body and sexuality, Bockowski encourages a vision of human evolution that is no longer tethered to biological determinism or essentialist ideas of gender and sexuality. Quorum sensing, a term traditionally used to describe the communication between bacteria, serves as a fitting metaphor for Bockowski’s vision of biohacking and genetic engineering. Just as bacteria coordinate their behavior through chemical signaling to function as a collective, Bockowski imagines a future where human bodies engage in similar forms of collective bio-communication. In this new paradigm, the body is not an isolated entity but part of a larger, interconnected network of organic and technological systems. Through genetic manipulation, biotechnological systems, and interactive media, the human body could operate as a “holobiont,” a term that refers to the symbiotic entanglement of multiple species within a shared ecological system. This concept is central to Bockowski’s exploration of how human bodies, microbes, and fungi interact within a larger biosphere of technological and biological materialities. The intersection of biohacking and queer theory in Bockowski’s work further complicates our understanding of human identity and sexuality. Drawing from Donna Haraway’s call to “make kin not babies,” Bockowski’s work aligns with a queer politics that challenges the normative values of family and reproduction. Rather than seeking to preserve the traditional structure of human identity, Bockowski embraces the radical potential of “queer rot,” the process by which bodies decompose and transform in ways that challenge normative conceptions of identity and sexuality. This is vividly illustrated through the biomedia project Holobiont, which explores the intimate relationships between human performers and microbial life forms. Bockowski’s use of fungi and other decomposing materials underscores the aesthetic value of decay and the generative potential of bodily mutation and transformation. The queer body, as theorized by Halberstam, embodies a death drive that undoes the self. It is within this context that Bockowski’s exploration of fungosexual replication finds its resonance. By examining the decay and decomposition of the body, Bockowski aligns with a broader philosophical tradition that emphasizes the creative potential of destruction and disintegration. These “unnatural” mutations, which arise from the intersection of the body and technology, disrupt conventional notions of identity and subjectivity. The very act of performing with microbial life forms, as in Holobiont, invites a new understanding of kinship that transcends the human-animal divide and embraces the entangled, symbiotic relationships that constitute all living beings.