How Can Biosemiotics Enrich Computational Practices?

Biosemiotics offers a profound framework for understanding the interconnectedness of all living systems. By exploring how meaning is created and communicated across human and non-human realms, biosemiotics challenges anthropocentric narratives and invites us to consider new ways of relating to the world.

Jacob von Uexküll’s concept of Umwelt illustrates how organisms perceive their environments differently, shaped by their unique sensory and cognitive capacities. This perspective resonates deeply with computational art, which often seeks to create systems that reflect or simulate these interactions.

Reflecting on this, I ask: How can biosemiotics inform computational practices, allowing us to move beyond human-centric approaches? How do we, as artists, create systems that honour the complexity and diversity of all living and non-living entities? By integrating biosemiotics into computational art, we can explore new modes of sensing, interacting, and creating that bridge disciplines and expand our understanding of interconnectedness.