Beyond Control
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Assoc. prof Marion Traenkle
The work asks how design can move beyond speed, efficiency, and control toward a more relational practice. Inspired by fungal thinking and more-than-human perspectives, the project works with the living organism Physarum polycephalum (slime mould) as a collaborator rather than a tool. Through daily cultivation, food-based experiments, and time-lapse recording, it observes how the organism moves and responds, allowing its behaviour to guide the outcome rather than imposing a predetermined result. Grounded in a critique of capitalist design, the project reframes design as a practice of attention, care, and coexistence with non-human forms of intelligence.
