Nano.Bio + Art 1

chris crewsPhD student | Political Theory

New School for Social Research

Mycotechnology:The Fungi Kingdom andNatural Technology

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 2

Abstract

This project seeks to bring emerging practices in the field of mycotechnology together with experimental art design to create an edible and ecologically friendly bioart project. The basic outline for this proposal involves creating a series of sculptures which can serve as a simple scaffolding in which inoculated mushroom spawn can colonize and fruit. The primary sculpture materials to be used are recycled, corrugated cardboard, used coffee grounds and natural burlap bags. These three materials will serve as the primary substrate into which the inoculated spawn will be added and grown.The entire process will be documented and, if possible, will include a gourmet meal featuring the grown mushrooms.

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 3

Concept

Show how urban permaculture --here using mycotechnology--can convert waste materials from the home into mushrooms.Demonstrate waste reduction with eco-friendly technology.Explore how mushrooms function as a hybrid species that have multiple interfaces into our daily lives: art, science, medicine, food, ecology, spirituality. Theorize how posthumanism, seen from a “mycelial perspective,” can create a more holistic and ecologically intelligent world.

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 4

Social ContextAll around us, visible and invisible, is a massive Fungi Kingdom. We eat mushrooms, use them for medicine, experiment with them in labs, ingest them for ritual and spiritual purposes, and honor them in word and image.Fungi plays a critical role in the world by helping to break down organic materials, toxins and essential minerals not readily available otherwise in the natural environment, and are major players in bio/geo/chemical cycles on our planet.

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 5

Applied Mycotechnology

Mycotechnology is an emerging field which focuses on the use of mushrooms for ecological restoration, often tied in with the ideas of permaculture. Some of these projects include:

Mycorestoration: Using mushrooms to rebuild depleted soils, break down industrial toxins and support natural ecosystems.

Mycoforestry: Using mushrooms to rebuild forest soils, stop erosion and soil slippage, and establish symbiotic soil networks.

Mycoremediation: Using mushrooms to rebuild soil mass, nutrient networks and re-establish an optimal soil structure.

Mycofiltration: Using mushrooms to reduce industrial runoff, agricultural stream pollution, and overabundant microbial activity in stream and water bodies.

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 6

Mycotechnology Examples

➢ Mushrooms used to break down and detoxify oil spills➢ Mushrooms used to sequester carbon from atmosphere➢ Mushrooms used as biological filters for stream restoration➢ Mushrooms used as natural insecticide against certain insects➢ Mushroom compost for added nutrient cycling and soil structure

Ecuadorian oil cleanup site Logging road rehabilitationOil spill remediation project

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 7

Mushroom BioartThis project involved three main stages:1) Substrate and Materials Setup➢ Collecting cardboard/paper, coffee grounds and burlap➢ Ordering mushroom spawn and lab supplies

Cardboard/paper waste Burlap bag materialsUsed coffee grounds

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 8

Mushroom Bioart

2) Spawning and Sculpture Design➢ Sketches for sculpture and timeline for spawning/fruiting➢ Mushroom spawning stage initiated

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 9

Mushroom Bioart

3) Fruiting and Hybridization➢ Initiating mushroom pinning and fruiting➢ Merging living mushrooms and created art together

+ =

Russell the Texas (Cube) Bear, a similar project using bioart.

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 10

Conclusion

Mushrooms are a fascinating species, in part, because of how little we understand about them in relation to their proliferation around the world. Whether in art or food, medicine or ritual, forest decomposition or toxic waste recovery, mushrooms find a way to thrive and multiply in almost any environment. The many benefits which mycotechnology has demonstrated, as well as the many new uses still being developed and studied, suggests that mushrooms have a potential to radically change our world and our technology if we approach them properly.In order to fully appreciate the power of the Fungi Kingdom, we need to adopt a “mecelial perspective” of the world and its vast interconnections, or what Paul Stamets calls the natural Internet.

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 11

References

Deacon, Jim. Fungal Biology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 2006.

FUNGI magazine. Richfield: FUNGI. 2010.Lincoff, Gary H. Field Guide to North American Mushrooms.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1981.McKnight, Kent H. and Vera B. McKnight. New York: Houghton

Mifflin. 1987.Mycotechnology. <http://www.fungi.com/mycotech/index.html>.Stamets, Paul and J.S. Chilton. A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home. Olympia: Agarikon Press. 1983.Stamets, Paul. Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. 2000.

Hybrid Worlds: Nano.Bio + Art 12

References

Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. 2005.Stamets, Paul. “6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World”. TED Talk. Feb., 2008. <http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/258>. Shroomery. Mushroom Growers Forum. 3.25.2010. <http://www.shroomery.org/4/Grow-Mushrooms>.