Musings on Afterculture

By Natalia Borissova

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? Assuming that humans are not the only intelligent organisms on this planet, further I would try to look into “plant intelligence“ in relation to mycelium and life after culture. Granted, there’s nothing new in assigning to the “mushroom” the role of the “World's healer” and to the “artist” the multifunctional role of a “mushroom”, nor in trying to cultivate “other“ cultures with a help of fungi when everything will turn into 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).

In mycoforestry and mycogardening mycelium links all the elements in the system together. It 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 mycelial networks are resilient. They survive catastrophes.  They are able to re-grow and survive following damage. They remediate poisoned land, decompose toxic wastes and radioactive pollutants. And if the fungi can thrive even on gifts, my next question would be: can not we engage these intelligent organisms to remediate a society poisoned by relentless abuse of power and mycofiltrate contemporary culture polluted by artificiality, commercialism, bureaucracy, academism, competitions, kitsch, trends, mercantillism, egoism, fetishism, conformism, biological racism etc as well as to control populations of 'dead' objects, fed projects, curators, provocateurs, collectors, directors, managers and cultural animators, hm? In my opinion, one of the most significant problems with contemporary culture is that it tends to focus on the “objects“ themselves and surface appearance rather than dynamic interconnectedness, system solutions that save resources, energy, lador and what is really important - our relationships and how do we treat each other — that what creates a whole. These relationships are what turn a collection of unrelated “objects“ into a functioning system, whether it’s a community, or a cultural ecosystem.

So, what if we inoculate society with a mycorrhizal resilient fungus to generally enhance the health of our (cultural) environments? That when the conditions are right, a multifarious fruits would rise up overnight, 'poisoning' the world with beauty, opening minds, seeding other mycelia, and growing into fresh territories?

As the mycelium exhausts the food sources in one area it expands outward in a circular fashion and the fungus cannibalizes the inner mycelium. It extracts whatever nutrients it can get 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 cannibalize the inner of decaying itself and extract whatever nutrients left to redistribute them according to the true needs?

By analogy with mycelia a “resilients-organism” (“resilium”) could be compared with a resilient organism 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, amazement, inventively, and non-discriminative knowledge and makes it available for other organisms to feast on. Btw, this method - 'enzyme' release into the surroundings, absorption of the results and providing food for the others should be a natural way of resilium's feeding. 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 materialisations respond to prevailing conditions and circumstances, and can be repeated in various forms as other creatures from all walks of life can join in. The vaster the resilium, the more extravagant the “fruiting bodies” arise from the fertile undergrowth. When they die down, mycelium, the essential part of the organism, is still alive. And it is not a static object. It growths random in response to chemical signals of other members of the ecosystem.

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, fungi, plants, insects, birds, mammals, and all the other inhabitants of our world, including human species. 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.

I wish that human domination and the “mono” attitude gives up in favor of rotations and symbiotic communities in favor of constructs used for pragmatic convenience.

I propose that a mashroom is conscious. I've heard that mushrooms have a very keen sense of humor. Lez see..