Margarita Osipian

Bodies of Change Mushroom Growth

The mushrooms overtaking the body

In the third installment of this series, we catch up with the mushroom growth that has been spreading over the mycelium shroud in the last six weeks.

Enlarge

05-12-2011 Installation - Bodies of Change by Maurizio Montalti - The Bodies of Change installation after 6 weeks of growth.  In 2011 you can visit the nursery of Mediamatic: a small Mushroom Paradise in the heart of Amsterdam. Here you will learn how to grow and prepare mushrooms, and you can join the fungi quests. Experience the psychedelic world of mushrooms through art and lectures. Imagine what it means when plastic can be replaced by a biodegradable fungus. The photo shows Bodies of Change by Maurizio Montalti. This work poses the question of how we can… Govert de Jong

In our last update we noticed the diverse variety of things that were growing on the mycelium shroud, thriving in the humid and wet environment that we had created. The green grass has since died, creating the simultaneous atmosphere of decay and growth that we had been hoping for. Although the grass didn't live long, our fungal species are thriving in their environment.

We watched in anticipation as the green mold spores that were dotting the body, and which are notoriously known for killing mushrooms, stopped spreading and made some space for the mushrooms to grow.

Enlarge

Bodies of Change installation - Mushrooms growing on the mycelium shroud. Part of the Bodies of Change installation in the Paddestoelen Paradijs exhibition. Govert de Jong

The mushrooms are still quite small, but are growing in clusters scattered on the shroud. In the next stage of this process we hope to lower the temperature in the hopes that the fruiting bodies will grow larger.

Enlarge

Close up of mushrooms - Mushrooms growing on the mycelium shroud. Part of the Bodies of Change installation in the Paddestoelen Paradijs exhibition. Govert de Jong

We set up a tiny time-lapse camera on the ceiling on top of the installation so that we could watch as the mushrooms grey on the shrouded body. The result is below, tracking 40 days of growth on the mycelium shroud.
Bodies of Change Time-lapse

Installation Updates

Find out more about this installation here.

If you want to get updates on the growth of this installation, then please 'like' this installation (either physically with your ikTag in the exhibition or by pressing the 'i like it' button online).