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| resilients:go_ask_a_mushroom [2013-01-31 22:22] – 46.128.23.163 | resilients:go_ask_a_mushroom [2020-06-05 22:28] (current) – old revision restored (2013-09-12 12:08) nik |
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| === Go Ask A Mushroom === | ==== Go Ask A Mushroom ==== |
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| Musings on Afterculture | Musings on Afterculture |
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| By Natalia Borissova | By Natalia Borissova |
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| What possible intelligent natural systems can we look to for inspiration and guidelines in the patterning of our human living environments, and for sketching out a kind of positive vision for the approaching Afterculture. How can we innovate more naturally? I believe that humans are not the only intelligent organisms on this planet and would try to look into ‘plant intelligence’ in relation to mycelium. Granted, there’s nothing new in assigning to the “artist” the multifunctional role of a “mushroom”, nor in trying to cultivate 'other' culture through a mycophilic lens where everything is supposed to be mushroom and magic, but still – when talking about life, culture and collaboration, we can’t overlook the lowly mycelium - the vegetative part of a fungus. | What possible intelligent natural systems can we look to for inspiration and guidance in the patterning of our human living environments, and for sketching out a kind of positive vision for a coming "afterculture"? How can we innovate more naturally? Assuming that humans are not the only artful organisms on this planet, I am interested to look into "other intelligence" in relation to resilient life after culture. Granted, there’s nothing new in assigning to the "mushroom" the role of a multifunctional "world healer," nor in trying to engage this keen organism in the remediation of culture, but still -- when talking about collaboration, art and life, we can’t overlook the lowly mycelium (the vegetative part of a fungus). |
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| ===Spawning the resilium=== | //"We are born from fungi. 600 million years ago we separated from fungi. Fungi are our ancestors."\\ |
| | -- Paul Stamets ([[http://podcasts.personallifemedia.com/podcasts/224-living-green/episodes/2914-paul-stamets-fungal-intelligence-and-the-21st-psychedelic-journey-how-mushrooms-can-help-save-the-world-in-our-11th-hour-edition-|Living Green Interview]])// |
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| Considering mycoforestry and mycogardening mycelia links all the elements of the system together, unlocks nutrient sources stored in plants and other organisms, redistributes those to wherever they are most needed. It converts rocks and organic debris into food for other species, builds the soil and maintains ecosystem diversity. It does cardinal, life-enhancing work on a grassroots and in constant dialogue with its environment. Human intervention is damaging wild nature, artificial fertilizers cause mycelia to retreat and the soil to lose a key part of its vibrancy. But myselium is a very resilient organism. It is able to reconnect following damage and remediate poisoned land, decompose toxic wastes and radioactive pollutants. If it can thrive even on gifts, my next question would be: can it remediate a society poisoned by relentless abuse of power and mycofiltrate contemporary culture polluted by artificiality, commercialism, bureaucracy, competitions, kitsch, trends, as well as to control populations of 'dead' objects, bad projects, curators provocateurs, and cultural animators? | <html><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/8449618016/" title="DSC00515edit by _foam, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8515/8449618016_766f3cc612_c.jpg" width="800" height="468" alt="DSC00515edit"></a></html> |
| In my opinion, one of the most significant problems with contemporary culture is that it tends to focus on the objects/pieces themselves and surface appearance rather than dynamic interconnectedness, system solutions that save labor, resources, energy and what is really important - relationships maintained/how do we treat each other — that what creates a whole. People are becoming less and less connectioned with one another as time goes on. How the everything/one is connected to each other is at least as important as what the pieces are. | |
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| What if we inoculate society with a mycorrhizal resilient fungus to generally enhance the health of our cultural environments? And when the conditions are right, it's mycelia’s multifarious fruits will rise up overnight, feeding critters, opening minds, 'poisoning' the world with beauty, seeding other mycelial systems, and growing into fresh territories? | === Spawning the resilium === |
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| As the mycelium exhausts the food sources in one area it expands outward in a circular fashion the fungus cannibalizes the inner mycelium, extracting whatever nutrients it can from there and moves them to the outer, growing regions. Whatever cannot be recycled is shut off from the growing region and allowed to decay. May be it's the time for the culture to cannibalizes the inner of itself extracting nutrients and redistribute them according to the real needs? | In nature, mycelium links all the elements of the ecosystem together simply by carrying on its usual life cycle. It unlocks nutrient sources stored in plant's cells and other organisms, through decay and converts the organic matter into a more usable form, redistributes nutrients to wherever they are most needed, fertilises the soil and maintains its diversity. It does essential life-enhancing work at the grassroots in constant dialogue with the environment. Human intervention damages wild nature, artificial fertilizers cause mycelia to retreat and the soil to lose its vibrancy. But mycelial networks are resilient and are able to survive catastrophes, re-grow, convert inorganic matter into organic usable form for themselves and for other organisms. They can remediate poisoned lands, decompose toxic wastes and radioactive pollutants. So, if fungi can thrive even on toxins, why not look to them in the remediation of societies and the mycofiltration of contemporary cultures that are often poisoned by relentless abuse of power and polluted by late capitalist values. |
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| By analogy with mycelia a “resilients-organism” (“resilium”) could be compared with a vegetal part of the culture which spreads out widely through time and space, popping up in the most unexpected places to spark joyful illuminations. It adsorbs complex reality upside down, digests it externally by relishing enzymes of curiosity, creativity and knowledge. It makes it available for the self-absorption and for other organisms to feast on. Btw, this method - 'enzyme' release into the surroundings, absorption of the results and providing food for the others is just a natural way of feeding for the bodymind of the resilium. When enough nutrients is collected by it's network fruiting bodies emerge – flotilla feasts, mountain bear missions, remote sensing flight operations, shroomshops, augmented harvests and many other unique happenings. These fruiting materialisations respond to prevailing conditions and circumstances, and can be repeated in various forms as other creatures from all walks of life join in. The vaster the resilium, the more extravagant the “fruiting bodies” arise from the fertile undergrowth. When mushrooms die down, mycelium is still alive. It is the essential part of the organism and is not a static object. It's growth respond to chemical signals of other members of the ecosystem. Efforts of the resilium need to be focused on the cultivation of healthy soil (aka a non-discriminative and co-creative environment). | I believe one of the most significant problems with contemporary culture is that it over com.modified -- tends to focus on the "objects" themselves -- surface appearances and formal pragmatic constructs -- rather than on relationships between the varying parts and how they treat each other. These relationships are what turn a collection of unrelated "matter" into a self functioning whole. By cultivating relationship we can save resources, energy, labour, not to mention ourselves, and work towards creating a holistic society. |
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| ===From mono-culture to self-sustaining ecosystem=== | What if we inoculate culture with a mycorrhizal, medicinal, gourmet and magic mushroom cultures to generally enhance its health and imagination? And then when the right conditions emerge, multifarious fruits will rise up to "poison" the world with beauty, and seed other mycelia that further propagate through "fresh" territories. |
| | When the mycelium exhausts its food sources in one area it expands outward in a circular fashion and cannibalizes the mycelium within to extract whatever nutrients it can find there to move them to the outer, growing regions. Whatever cannot be recycled is closed off and allowed to decay. May be it's time to ingest the inner core of our decaying culture, extract whatever nutrients remain, and redistribute them according to the true needs? |
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| What layout or design of our environment could be called “nature-logical”? I assume that it is one that is “open” and links many possible components and organisms into one heterogeneous kingdom of useful relationships and mutually beneficial connections – among microbes, plants, insects, birds, mammals, and all the other inhabitants of our world, including people. | By analogy with mycelium, a "resilium" could be compared with a resilient tissue which randomly spreads out widely through time-space, pops up in the most unexpected places and sparks joyful illumination. It adsorbs complex reality upside down, digests it externally by releasing enzymes of curiosity, amazement, and other magical compounds. It inventively converts it into non-discriminative knowledge and makes all this available for other organisms to feast on. This method of releasing enzymes and providing food for for yourself and others is the natural way the resilium exists. When enough nutrients are collected in its network, fruiting bodies emerge -- mountain bear missions, remote sensing flight operations, augmented and non-green harvests, flotilla feasts, and many other unique happenings happen. These materialisations respond to prevailing conditions and circumstances, and can be repeated in various forms as creatures from all walks of life join in. The vaster the resilium, the more extravagant the "fruiting bodies" emerge. When the "fruits of resilium" die down, the essential part of the organism is still alive. And it is not a static object, it grows selectively in response to all chemical signals of human and nonhuman entities around it. |
| When each individual organism has multiple roles and interconnections within this kind of ecosystem, edges can be optimised and resources reused. Problems, limitations and mistakes can be embraced creatively, and the environment thrives. There is no need to impose connections from the outside, as each of the ecosystem’s parts is self-organising. The design of this interconnected, self-sustaining ecosystem differs from the conventional, monocultural approach, where the parts are mostly disconnected from each other and serve just one single purpose within the system. | |
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| In the time of the Afterculture, human dominance and the monocultural attitude has to give up in favor of rotations and polycultures. Traveling and site-specific interconnections with local human and non-human entities will imaginatively build a future that reflects the environmental, poly-cultural, mythic, rhythms and dimensions of our world. | === From mono to poly === |
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| If we believe that nowadays cultural communities are not just merely constructs used for formal and pragmatic convenience, that they can arise for the sake of mutual relationships among their members and come to act somewhat like whole organisms, maybe we can apply these kinds of models and principles for celebrating life after culture? | What kind of environmental layout or design could be called "nature-logical"? I would say that it is an "open" one that links many possible organisms into one heterogeneous kingdom of useful relationships and mutually beneficial connections among microbes, fungi, plants, insects, birds, mammals, and all the other inhabitants of our world, including the human species; each individual organism has multiple roles and is interconnected within the system; edges are optimised and all resources are reused; problems, limitations and mistakes are embraced creatively, and the environment thrives; there is no need to impose artificial connections from the outside. This self-sustaining approach differs from the formal and monocultural one, where the parts are mostly disconnected from each other, serve a single purpose, require a lot of labour and resources to maintain. We are in fact the sometimes disconnected parts of one natural whole. |
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| | Let's hallucinate that by elaborating these models and principles, the human addiction to domination and the "mono" attitude can gradually change in favour of dynamic rotations, symbiotic communities, and altered senses of reality… |
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