Our companion Mushroom
How to make kin in the Chthulucene??
Through this experimental workshop series, Our Companion Mushroom,
the artist drew people to explore being a companion species of mycelium as a human, based on the aesthetics of Donna Haraway, Making kin.
The project provided the opportunity for people to share the biological and artistic practices to get to know, connect to, and fruit bodies like mycelium.
At the first workshop, SPORE, participants got to know Donna Haraway's theory, Making kin, and looked into different picked mushrooms from the forest with an invited expert Mr. Hann. People picked several mushrooms in the forest with him. Under the artist's guidance, they cloned selected mycelium on agar plates at the bio fab lab, Roskilde University.
*While the artist sought a mushroom expert, she met Mr. Hann at the Svampe Udstilling of The Danish Society for Nature Conservation. He has worked as a farmer and mushroom picker for about 30 years, and he introduced himself as "not an expert."
At the following MYCELIUM session, people could distinctively perceive mycelium via artistic and technological practices like microscopy, 3D formation, and performative activities. By observing mycelium through the microscope, they focused on exploring the new dimension of mycelium and created 3D forms from the captured scenes and printed 3D objects. Additionally, the artist created a 3D mycelium video and an artist-designed gadget for the FRUITING BODY pop-up exhibition.
A pop-up exhibition, FRUITING BODY, was held as the third session. The artist transformed space by screening 3D mycelium videos, converted people to mycelium with the designed gadgets, and shared the fruiting bodys' experiences with performative surroundings. People wrote collaborative poetic writings together.
* Schedule:
21, Oct, 2020, 1st. SPORE: Intro of Mycelium, Donna Haraway, and Chthulucene
28, Oct, 2020, 2nd. MYCELIUM: How to meet the new dimension
4, Nov, 2020, 3rd. FRUITING BODY: Pop-up Exhibition
* Location: Bio Fab lab at Roskilde University, Universitetsvej 1, Building 37, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark
Su Kim, visiting artist of the Bio fab lab at RUC, hosted Our Companion Mushroom workshop series with performer Ida Nicolaisen and Ran Seo.
