Can we watch fungi think? And if so, what do they have to tell us? With the installation Fungal Frequencies, SurrealLabor (Andreas Hölldorfer, Julia Ihls and Marius Probst) explores the interfaces between mycelial and electronic signal processing: Mycelium – the subterranean hyphal network of fungi – has already found its way into the discourses on more-than-human narratives, posthumanism and new materialisms in recent years and has since served as an intellectual metaphor for a polyphonic structure that shows us the pleasurable loss of control in precarious living environments beyond the anthropocentric. But how exactly does this form of world perception and communication work that seems so alien to us? It is not yet possible to fully explain scientifically how exactly signal processing works in these widely branched, decentralized mycelium networks – be it electrically, chemically or hydraulically. Based on the preliminary work of Andrew Adamatzky – computer scientist and director of the Unconventional Computing Labs, Bristol – SurrealLabor artistically visualizes those translation processes between biological and technological networks, blurring digital and fungal computing in a liminal mixture.
Supported by the UNESCO City of Media Arts Karlsruhe Project Funding Program for Media Arts 2023.
Shown at Media art is here (2024) with kind support of karlsruhe.digital.
Time: 15.08.2024 – 15.09.2024
Location: TRIANGEL Transfer | Kultur | Raum
