Fungi – Interwoven Worlds

Museum Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (DE), 15/09/2024 - 09/02/2025
Sprouts Film Festival ‘Eco exhibition’ @ MACA, Amsterdam (NL), 09/05/2024 - 12/05/2024

Credits documentation:
Museum Sinclair-Haus, Michael Habes

Mushrooms accompany us at every turn: in the soil, in the air, on our skin, in buildings, and outdoors. Some appear vibrantly colored with caps and stems, others are tiny and live in inaccessible places, and some weave extensive underground networks (mycelia). Without fungi, no living being on Earth could exist in its current form, yet their significance in the web of life is often underestimated. The exhibition "Mushrooms – Interwoven Worlds" invites you to go mushroom hunting – in contemporary art. Complemented by scientific perspectives, the exhibition, featuring international artists, encourages you to rediscover the astonishing world of fungi.

Until the 20th century, mushrooms were classified as plants. Today, we know that alongside flora and fauna stands the "funga": the vast, still largely mysterious, and unexplored kingdom of fungi. It is estimated that there are more than 3 million species, with only about 120,000 scientifically described and studied. This represents a huge potential: not only to better understand and preserve life on Earth but also to implement ecologically sustainable ways of living. With the help of fungi, materials for packaging, clothing, and construction can be produced. They can be consumed as meat substitutes and used as producers of medically active substances. We likely have much more to learn from these filamentous beings.

The exhibition focuses on the relationships between fungi, plants, insects, and humans, as fungi are the great networkers among living organisms. How do fungi live? What does their existence have to do with ours? What can we learn from fungi? Together with artists from around the world, the exhibition explores these questions. It moves between growing mycelia and talking fly agarics and literally takes a closer look at fungi. Complemented by objects from the natural sciences, the exhibition helps us see the vibrant fungal world around us with new eyes.

Featuring works by Rodrigo Arteaga, Selin Balci, Suzette Bousema, Anne Carnein, Mia Dudek, Anna Dumitriu and Alex May, Wim van Egmond, Dominik Einfalt, David Fenster, Juan Ferrer and Natalie Cabrera, Fungi Foundation, Takashi Homma, Markus Huemer, Silas Inoue, Liu Yujia, Phyllis Ma, MY-CO-X, Jana Paleckova, Irena Posner, SPUN, V. meer, and others.