Yana Mikhailava

UMWELTNOISE

UMWELTNOISE asks a simple but unsettling question: what is audiovisualization missing? Conventional systems for rendering sound visually are built on human perception, the frequencies we hear, the patterns we find meaningful, the aesthetics we reach for instinctively. This project proposes an alternative by routing sound through the behavioral logic of Physarum polycephalum, a brainless slime mould studied in unconventional computing for its ability to solve complex spatial problems through nutrient-seeking growth. Using a custom GLSL shader built in TouchDesigner, certain frequencies function as nutrients, producing smooth, generative forms, while others act as deterrents, introducing disruption and distortion. The result is a form of audiovisualization structured by biological rather than cultural logic, a three-way collaboration between organism, algorithm, and human co-author. The project sits within a broader interest in making the assumptions of our tools visible, in asking what any given apparatus cannot see, and what it might mean to look differently.