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In Jenna Sutela's work, which ranges from computational poetry to experimental music to installations and performance, the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) Visiting Artist enlists microbes and neural networks as co-creators. "I want to explore this notion of expanded authorship through bringing in beyond-human life forms," Sutela says. Inspired by science fiction, she employs both nature's oldest technologies -- the slime model Physarum polycephalum that has been compared to a computer -- and the newest ones developed in research labs. Bacteria and artificial intelligence are among her many collaborators in creating artworks that challenge the deeply ingrained idea that humans exist apart from the teeming, vibrating world that contains us. In April, Sutela participated in an Open Systems panel, moderated by Caroline Jones, professor of history theory and criticism, as part of this year's CAST symposium.