ABSTRACT
A microsœpic being changing the socioeconomic stmcture of societies worldwide is forcing us to confront our porosity. Covid-19 permeating and altering the bodies of so many begs the question - have we ever been individuals? Matter Poetics, Melange and the Ticheuised Poathumau interrogates the ways in which our entangled existence is presented within science fiction media, using Frank Herbert's seminal work Dune [1965) and the fictional mind-altering drug Melange to fi-anie a discursive speculation surrounding the holobiotic existence of all Earthlings. Alternative theories surrounding symbiosis, taxonomy, mortality and consciousness expansion are sketched, calling for a reconsideration of what constitutes "the human" in such perilous times for the planet. The text examines literature, film, conceptual art and philosophical meditations. Tlie mycelial practices of Jae Rliim Lee and Jordon Belson, the posthuman ideologies of Drew Milne, Donna Haraway and Lynn Margulis, and Alex Garland'y Annihilation (2018) are explored;thoughts and arguments, like matter, arc scattered amorphously. Covid-19 restructuring the way we live our lives has made many more of us realise the fragility of the human condition. Science fiction is and always has been intertwined with our realities- can such speculations help us escape our dystopian reality by facilitating a re-evaluation of our inextricable connection to the natural world? © 2022 Intellect Ltd Visual Essay. English language.