MYCELIUM

2022, 4D sound composition, booklet, textile sculpture, AR animation, and app

sound fragment

The project draws from the idea of compassion as a main evolutionary mechanism. It imagines a possibility of an intimate relationship with nature. The story aims at reformulating the encounter with the wilderness as a tender partnership. It opposes post-capitalist globalized abuse of natural resources and objectification of nature. It is inspired by the structure and functioning of a system of fungi. It is a non-linear narrative about an ecosystem driven by care and collaboration. 

The project consists of several layers:

  • texts with invited writers: Claudia Strate, Jul Zabowskx, and Claire Lefèvre, during walks in forests and parks around Vienna;

  • recorded writings and synthesized sounds, conjuring an intimate, fantastic forest;

  • crocheted structure, that caress the audience, and allows them to braid its soft hyphae;

  • Augmented Reality application for smartphones with 3D scans of the sculpture, further modeled by Joanna Zabielska, who created a gigantic structure that extends reality and lets the audience immerse themselves further into the mycelium.

credits:

Concept, music, sculpture:  Zosia Hołubowska; Texts by: Ursula Le Guin (fragment from Word for World is Forest), Agnieszka Szpila (fragment from Hexy), Claire Lefèvre, Jul Zabowskx, Claudia Strate; Spatial engineering: Rhys Connolly

supported by:

The City of Vienna, Ministry of Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, of the Republic of Austria, MONOM Studio