MYcelium

MYcelium is a multi-sensory experience inviting visitors to interact with fungal forms, connected to a reactive audio-visual environment around them. Through a series of interactions, aspects of their own identity are captured and expressed through audio and imagery, manifesting into their own mycelium network. The concept of the piece explores the possibility of extending our own remembered existence into the ancient network, currently threading trillions of connections beneath our Earth’s surface.

Across the Wood Wide Web, information and resources are shared through mycorrhizal connections between fungi and plant roots. Trees that have spawned from older generations can be recognised by their relatives through their root tips, enabling favoured relationships; by sharing nutrients supporting their survival. These data points of identity indicate a form of shared memory within the greater environment of the forest. Is there a way that the human world can connect to this network of memory? Are we able to perform information exchanges with the network, of our own aspects of self; through gesture and shared communication? These are the questions we hope to explore through our installation presented.

“MYcelium”是一个融合了多感官体验的装置；我们邀请参观者与装置中连接了视听艺术环境的蘑菇互动。通过这一系列的互动，他们身上各个方面的特征将会被该环境捕捉，并通过音频及图像表达为属于他们独特的“菌丝网络”。该作品探讨了我们与大自然的共享记忆；是否存在将我们内心深处记忆延伸到土壤下拥有数万亿连接的古老菌丝网络中的可能性呢？

在整个树维网中，信息和资源通过真菌和植物根部之间的菌根连接而被共享。新的树木可以通过根尖识别出老一辈的树木，从而建立起互利的关系，通过分享养分而支持它们的生存。这些包含“身份信息”的数据点表明了森林大环境中存在着一种共享记忆的形式。有没有一种方法可以让人类世界连接到这个记忆网络呢？我们又是否能够通过手势或其他交流方式，与这个网络进行信息交流？这些都是我们希望通过该装置作品来探讨的问题。