(First Idea) I am still determined to create an interactive program/system that works much like Virginia Satir's hanging mobile theory. I am not sure what program I could use to execute this, but what I am visualizing is entirely digital and game-like. Where an unbalanced family system, or mobile. is presented to the viewer and they need to then decide how to re-create balance within the system. There will be different narratives within each different unbalanced system and the potential for multiple results depending upon what the viewer decides to do. When I start thinking of how to do this in a physical fashion my brain gets a bit jumbled and all I can think of is creating something simply for aesthetic purposes to catch the viewers attention in order to try out the game.
(Second Idea) However, going off the main theme within Satir's model (balance) another idea pops into my head.Would slime mold be able to potentially make it from point A to point B in a balanced way? For this I'm picturing a simple see-saw type of structure with the slime mold placed at one end and the "food" placed on another. I'm curious to see if it would be able to get the see-saw to reach it's equilibrium (where it would be perfectly horizontal). If I remember correctly slime mold avoids cold conditions so perhaps I could try to place something cold underneath the part of the see-saw with the food on it. So as the mold makes it's way to the food it shifts it's weight towards the other end of the scale - but if too much weight reaches the other end and gets too close to the "cold spot" it may draw back - possibly resulting in the balance reaching equilibrium. I see potential in this system because it may very well show how complex it is to not only reach a state of equilibrium but how impossible it is to maintain that balance without continuing to change and evolve. This in itself can be seen as symbolic towards family systems in general, and how every family's goal is to find balance. If balance is found it will not be permanent because things change, for better or worse, and that will then in turn throw off the balance. This balance can only be restored if the family system works together as a unit, much like how slime mold behaves as one single entity finding the most efficient path.
Possible materials needed:
A light weight, small, see-saw type of structure
Randomizing environment condition the would cause the slime mold to find different ways to reach it's food while maintaining balance on the structure
Something to go underneath the see-saw structure that would give the slim mold motivation to not allow the structure to have too much weight on just one side of the scale. (This is possible because slim mold has the ability to learn from the environment it finds itself in)