Art: Mycorrhizal Wealth of East Carpathians / SPUN EXPEDITION
We believe that the project bridging scientific knowledge with artistic imagination and creative communication strategies will get the message across large and diverse public, raising awareness and stimulating societal engagement and actions towards the protection of endangered areas which are the base for our biological and social safeguard.
The implemented artistic projects emphasize the deeply humanistic dimension of our biological heritage as a common value that connects us “beyond borders”. At the same time, they strive to change anthropocentric paradigms in favour of a more holistic approach and to break through the patterns of the economic approach to forest resources, both on a local and global scale.
See our art & science exhibition at the Gallery Curators’ lab in Poznań 10.04.-5.05.2024
Art Projects
The title of my work refers to the rhizosphere – microbiome of monumental trees, colloquially known as mother trees, which play the role of hot spots in natural networks of information exchange and resource distribution between plants, fungi and microorganisms. These networks not only provide optimal conditions for the life and development of all their stakeholders but are also a reservoir of evolutionary memory and wisdom that we should protect and learn from. Combining scientific knowldege with artistic imagery and poetry, I intend to immerse the viewer in a narrative that changes the perspective of an external observer into a participant in processes that go far beyond the scale of human experience.
The forest is a place that has been stimulating the human imagination for centuries, becoming the basis of cultural narratives and legends. The history of the Boykos is woven into the area of the Eastern Carpathians, and their knowledge of medicinal plants was often combined with indigenous beliefs. The quatrefoil cured madness, the burdock was used for witchcraft, the nineleaf helped with nine different diseases, and was a common motif in local ornamentation. The plants shown on the fabric were collected in the buffer zone of the Bieszczady National Park, which has the potential to become a protected area. The fabrics indicate the biodiversity of the BNP buffer zone and the tenderness and respect that should be given to beings (Mortonian non-humans) who do not have their own voice in our social structures. The canvases become their banners, while referring to the folk tradition in which plants and mushrooms are an important part of folk beliefs and medicine.
The subject of my artistic search is the form of establishing communication with the mushroom, a form that will take many shapes (shapeshifting).
My works take the form of sound, stories, and 3D space.. What is important to me is the interaction of humans with technology and nature, as well as education concerning ecological awareness and sensitivity to the beauty of disappearing nature, which must be protected against harmful forest management and human greed.
I would like the recipient of my art to reflect on how to protect nature, in particular, the areas of the Bieszczady Mountains; to experience a meditative state through alternate visions of the world, new tunnels of reality, art and stories about a world that could be different (see Solar Punk). Referring to the title, I give a voice to mushrooms.
