adapted_artifact_258, 2024
mycelium lamp, various mycelium material experiments, posthuman artifacts, usnea lichen, stones and twigs
L240 x W60 x H120 cm
at Ars Electronica Festival: HOPE, Linz (AU).
The showcase explores adaptive processes within mycelium-based materials through a lamp that changes form as fungal growth develops.
It examines the tension between human design and biological agency, emphasizing the biosphere’s capacity to respond precisely to environmental conditions.
The lampshade transforms when reishi mushrooms grow through its weave structure, consuming the fabric. The fruiting bodies’ shape and size naturally adapt to their environment, creating a unique object that is also a record of a space. The lampstand is made out of mycelium, the main part of fungi, usually spreading through materials to absorb nutrients.
Here, it had been grown in a specific manner to achieve a durable material out of its root- like structure.
Adapted Artifact 258 explores transient human influence on the world and precise adaptive responses of the biosphere.
After we are gone, nature will cleanse, adapt, reform and repurpose artifacts of our existence.
The showcase also includes various experiments with creating the lightest, densest and most resistant mycelium-based material together with the naturally shaped, dried fruiting bodies.
