Can a mushroom make music? Devon exhibition explores ‘cultural world’ of fungi
Exeter museum to host DJ’s ‘collaboration’ with woodland fungi and artist’s map of her own body’s mycobiome For one of the installations, a musician spent hours in woodland “collaborating” with fungi to create a soundscape inspired by the electricity they emit. Another is a kinetic sculpture of an extinct fungus that honours Beatrix Potter not for her tales of mischievous rabbits but for her…
An extraordinary contemporary art exhibition called Living Labyrinths opens at Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) on October 3rd and runs until February 21st. The show aims to celebrate the "cultural world" of fungi, featuring installations that explore the connections between fungi and human culture.
One installation is a soundscape created by musician Jason Singh, who spent hours in Devon woods collaborating with fungi to translate the electrical signals emitted by mycelium – the rootlike networks of fungi – into music. Singh's piece, The Intelligence Below, uses biofeedback sensors to measure the electricity from mycelium and translate it into sound.
Another exhibit is a kinetic sculpture honoring Beatrix Potter, the famed children's book author. Potter is remembered not just for her tales of rabbits but also for her lesser-known role as a mycologist – a fungi expert. The sculpture pays tribute to her contributions to the study of fungi.
Artist Jo Pearl created a piece called In Balance in honor of Beatrix Potter's fungus named in her honor, Potteromyces asteroxylicola. The piece is based on the unique characteristics of this particular fungus.
One of the most intriguing exhibits is a map created by Gemma Anderson-Tempini, who worked with scientists to map the fungi living within her own body – her mycobiome. The map is a first of its kind, as no one had previously drawn or documented the fungi dwelling within the human body. Anderson-Tempini believes her work is a groundbreaking exploration of the intimate connections between humans and fungi.
The RAMM exhibition showcases a range of exhibits, from Victorian collections of fungi to modern works, highlighting the growing interest and appreciation for fungi in recent years.
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