Rhizomatic Resurgence
Multispecies Storytelling and Ecological Entanglement in Southeast Asian Bio-Art
Exploring how artists weave complex narratives that grow, branch, and interconnect like underground root systems
The Underground Network of Stories
Imagine a vast, invisible network connecting trees, fungi, and microorganisms in a dense tropical forest—an intricate web where resources, chemical signals, and information flow in all directions, sustaining the entire ecosystem.
This biological reality mirrors a revolutionary way of understanding our relationship with the natural world that is now emerging through contemporary Southeast Asian bio-art. In this vibrant artistic movement, living organisms become collaborators in storytelling, and ecological connections take center stage.
Rhizomatic Narratives
Complex stories that grow, branch, and interconnect like the underground root systems of plants.
Human-Centered Challenge
Challenging our human-centered perspectives and revealing profound ecological entanglements across species boundaries.
The Theoretical Roots: Understanding the Rhizome
To appreciate the significance of this artistic movement, we must first understand the philosophical concept of the "rhizome" as developed by French theorists Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. In their seminal work A Thousand Plateaus (1980), they proposed the rhizome as an alternative model for knowledge and existence opposed to the traditional "arborescent" (tree-like) structure that has dominated Western thought 1 7 .
"A rhizome has no beginning or end; it is always in the middle, between things, interbeing, intermezzo" 1 .
| Rhizomatic | Arborescent |
|---|---|
| Non-linear | Linear |
| Anarchic | Hierarchic |
| Nomadic | Sedentary |
| Smooth space | Striated space |
| Deterritorialized | Territorialized |
| Multiplicitous | Unitary and binary |
| Heterogeneity | Homogeneity |
This philosophical framework provides a powerful lens for understanding ecological systems and the artistic practices that engage with them. In nature, rhizomatic structures appear in fungal networks, neural pathways, and ecosystem interconnections—patterns now being explored through Southeast Asian bio-art.
Southeast Asia as Rhizomatic Landscape
Southeast Asia presents a particularly fertile ground for rhizomatic artistic practices. As noted in Posthuman Southeast Asia: Ecocritical Entanglements Across Species Boundaries, the region is characterized by "indigenous and ancient traditions of animism to the variegated and blooming creativity of contemporary literature, art, music, drama, film, and other media" 6 .
These traditions have long recognized the interconnectedness of human and non-human worlds, positioning humans as participants within—rather than masters over—complex ecological networks.
The region's tremendous biodiversity, coupled with its pressing environmental challenges, creates an urgent context for artistic interventions that reimagine human-nature relationships. Southeast Asian bio-artists draw from these deep cultural wells while addressing contemporary ecological crises, creating works that operate as what Deleuze and Guattari might call "maps" rather than "tracings"—open systems that are "susceptible to constant modification" and "reworked by an individual, group, or social formation" 1 .
Southeast Asia's biodiversity provides rich material for bio-art exploration.
Bio-Art and Multispecies Storytelling
Bio-art represents an artistic practice where living materials, scientific processes, and biological systems become the medium for creative expression. In Southeast Asia, this often manifests as multispecies storytelling—works that give voice to, or collaborate with, non-human organisms to reveal the complex entanglements binding ecological communities.
Living Installations
Artworks that evolve over time, require specific environmental conditions to survive, and sometimes even die, reflecting the fragility of our ecosystems.
Dynamic Systems
The artworks become dynamic systems rather than static objects, embodying the very rhizomatic principles they explore.
Rhizomatics
A way of thinking that "extirpate[s] roots and foundations, to thwart unities and break dichotomies" 1 .
Artistic Approaches
Material Exploration
Working with microorganisms, plants, fungi, or animal life to create living installations.
Process-Oriented Creation
Emphasizing the artistic process over the final product, allowing works to evolve organically.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Partnering with scientists, ecologists, and local communities to create meaningful works.
Scientific Foundations: The Rhizosphere as Model
The scientific concept of the rhizosphere—the region of soil surrounding plant roots where complex microbial interactions occur—provides both a literal and metaphorical foundation for understanding rhizomatic art. Recent research has revealed the astonishing complexity of these underground communities, where multispecies biofilm networks facilitate communication and resource exchange between plants and microorganisms 3 .
"Rhizosphere microbes are considered the 'second genome' of plants," emphasizing the profound interconnectedness between plant health and microbial communities 3 .
Inside the Experiment: Building Biofilm Communities
This innovative research provides a fascinating model of how we can understand and recreate complex ecological relationships in laboratory settings—a process that parallels the methodologies of bio-artists working with living systems.
| Step | Process | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhizosphere soil isolation | Extract bacterial cells from the root-soil interface |
| 2 | Bacterial cell extraction | Separate microorganisms from soil particles using differential centrifugation |
| 3 | Pellicle biofilm coculture | Allow natural biofilm communities to form on filters in growth media |
| 4 | DNA extraction & sequencing | Identify microbial composition through 16S rRNA gene analysis |
| 5 | High-throughput bacterial isolation | Obtain pure cultures of dominant species using limiting dilution |
| 6 | Synthetic community construction | Combine selected species in various combinations to test interactions |
| 7 | Biofilm capacity measurement | Quantify community robustness through crystal violet staining and qPCR |
Experimental Protocol
The experimental protocol begins with extracting bacterial cells from rhizosphere soil using differential centrifugation methods to separate microorganisms from soil particles 3 .
Community Analysis
Researchers then employ 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to identify the composition of these naturally formed biofilm communities, selecting the most abundant bacterial taxa for further experimentation 3 .
Perhaps most intriguing is the process of deliberately constructing synthetic communities by combining selected bacterial species in various combinations—from single species to complex multispecies assemblies—then measuring their biofilm-forming capabilities. This systematic approach allows scientists to identify which combinations exhibit synergistic relationships and form the most robust communities 3 .
Research Toolkit: Essential Materials for Biofilm Research
| Reagent/Solution | Composition/Formulation | Function in Research |
|---|---|---|
| PBS-S Buffer | NaH2PO4·H2O, Na2HPO4·7H2O, Silwet L-77, distilled water | Extraction of bacterial cells from rhizosphere soil |
| TSB Medium | Tryptone, soy peptone, NaCl (pH=7) | General purpose growth medium for bacterial activation |
| MSgg Medium | KH2PO4, MOPS, MgCl2, CaCl2, MnCl2, FeCl3, ZnCl2, thiamine, glycerol, glutamate, amino acids | Specific biofilm growth medium |
| TSB-MSgg Media | 1:1 mixture of TSB and MSgg media | Enhanced biofilm cultivation |
| Na4P2O7 Solution | 0.2% sodium pyrophosphate | Soil particle dispersion and cell separation |
| Crystal Violet Stain | Crystal violet dye in aqueous solution | Biofilm biomass quantification |
| 2-Methyl-1,4-phenylene bis(4-(3-(acryloyloxy)propoxy)benzoate) | Bench Chemicals | |
| Trimedlure | Bench Chemicals | |
| tert-Amyl-tert-octylamine | Bench Chemicals | |
| Tinii2,3-naphthalocyanine | Bench Chemicals | |
| 1-Ethylcyclohexa-1,3-diene | Bench Chemicals |
Scientific Insights and Artistic Parallels
The results of such experiments have been illuminating. Research has demonstrated that these synthetic multispecies biofilm communities exhibit properties that individual species lack—emerging capabilities born from collaboration rather than isolated existence.
These scientific insights provide tangible evidence for the rhizomatic principles that Southeast Asian bio-artists explore through their work: that connection and heterogeneity generate resilience and creativity, whether in ecological systems or cultural productions.
Scientific research informs artistic practice in bio-art.
Rhizomatic Art in Practice: Southeast Asian Perspectives
While specific examples of Southeast Asian bio-artists weren't detailed in the available research, the theoretical framework suggests how such practitioners might operate. Drawing from the region's rich cultural heritage and complex biodiversity, their work likely explores the entanglements between traditional ecological knowledge and contemporary scientific understanding, often using locally significant organisms or ecosystems as both medium and subject.
Artistic Approaches
- Living installations that visualize hidden networks connecting forest ecosystems
- Participatory works engaging communities in monitoring local environmental health
- Direct collaboration with scientists using laboratory techniques
Cartographic Approach
The approach aligns with what Deleuze and Guattari described as "cartography"—the creation of maps that "are open and connectable in all of their dimensions; it is detachable, reversible, susceptible to constant modification" 1 .
Similarly, rhizomatic bio-art creates evolving representations of ecological relationships rather than fixed portraits of nature.
Conclusion: Cultivating Rhizomatic Awareness
The emergence of rhizomatic approaches in Southeast Asian bio-art represents more than an aesthetic trend—it signals a profound shift in how we conceptualize our relationship with the living world.
By creating multispecies stories that emphasize connection, heterogeneity, and ecological entanglement, these artists challenge the arborescent thinking that has dominated Western perspectives and contributed to our current environmental crises.
Ecological Wisdom
As we face escalating ecological challenges, the rhizomatic lens offered by both science and art becomes increasingly vital. It reminds us that resilience emerges from diversity and connection, that systems can regenerate after rupture, and that understanding requires navigating the spaces between—between species, between disciplines, between ways of knowing.
Open Systems
As one researcher noted of Deleuze and Guattari's work, "A Thousand Plateaus provides an example of such an open system. It does not advocate an intellectual anarchism in which the only rule would be the avoidance of any rule. It deploys variable, local rules in order to construct a bewildering array of concepts" 1 .
The underground network of stories being woven by Southeast Asian bio-artists offers not just aesthetic experience but vital ecological wisdom for our time.