Model organism as boundary object: Physarum polycephalum between biology, network science and art

Abstract The slime mold Physarum polycephalum is a single celled Protist known for creating efficient protoplasmic networks connecting its food sources. The properties of Physarum networks have been subject to extensive examination and employed to solve mathematical problems as well as imitate, model and optimize human-made networks. This paper investigates the conceptual operations underpinning those modelling practices that allow for comparison between two incommensurate entities: the slime mold versus human transportation and communication systems. It analyzes selected Physarum experiments, describes the process of abstraction of the slime mold’s body into networks and identifies the strategies of comparison between humans and the slime mold. It defines the slime mold as a boundary object performing the work of translation between the fields of biology, network science and art and characterizes the methods of arriving at equivalence between human and slime networks as based on analogy, metaphor and equivocation.