Midnight Mushroom Music

Today has been a hell of a day!

Positive/Negative/in-between.

Regardless, tonight the Ganoderma lucidum is very active. Brought the midi biodata through the Grandmother and then decided to simply bring it through Ableton. Thanks for listening! <3

Grow Op 2019 installation at the Gladstone.

The Mycelium Shrine; Primordia was created. An immersive environment where visitors could listen to the Mycelium and commune with it.

April 17-21st at the Gladstone Hotel, Toronto Room 206

Primordia won the GrowOp Jury Award!

For Grow Op: ENERGY I created an immersive underground environment. Visitors could enter the world of Mycelium and interact with it sonically. Over a two month period, I formed and grew a large-scale mycelium sculpture during my residency at MoCA Toronto. The living mycelium sculpture served as the centrepiece within the installation.

The walls within the space were covered with black scrim, for the floor we brought in 8, 25-litre bags of topsoil. I sprayed the topsoil with hydrogen peroxide and diatomaceous earth to keep the possibility of fungus flies to a minimum.

Fibre optic lighting was hung from the ceiling to represent mycelium growth and networks. A pedestal was placed within this space for the living Mycelium sculpture to stand upon. Once on the pedestal, the sculpture stood approximately 7′. 6 sets of electrodes were placed upon the Mycelium sculpture to read its bio-data and translate that information to MIDI which in-turn powered 3 analogue synthesizers. Copper electrode pads were placed on the top of the pedestal running into the mycelium. Visitors could place their hands on the copper and have their bio-data translated to MIDI along with the Mycelium.

Visitors started referring to the installation as a Shrine to Mycelium.

Entering the room visitors were first introduced to mycelium’s ability to bio-remediate toxins from the environment. Jars containing Ganoderma lucidum with aniline dye and PVC, Pleurotus ostreatus and motor oil were on display. Within less than 2 days the Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushrooms) completely absorbed the motor oil and started thriving off of the hydro-carbons.

During my residency at MoCA I'm exploring myco-remediation, growing mycelium sculptures, on agar plates, in jars, in bags... Last night Andrei and I hooked up ourselves and mycelium to experiment with some ideas we have for the bio-sonification at Grow Op April 17-21 2019. We brought midi into 2 Mothers and a Minitaur, reverb via a T2 pedal. We are also constructing touch-pads for visitors into the 'Underground' in room 206 at the Gladstone Hotel (Toronto). If the pads work, visitors will be able to directly interact with the mycelium bio-data. Stay tuned... :)

March 31st. Blizzard outside, mycelium inside.

First bio-sonification recording during the MoCA residency.

A bit strange.. the mycelium was very active, incredibly buzzy- toned it

down a bit with a Lowpass filter.

Workshop at U of T March 7th.

Nanotopia shared our Bio-Sonification studies with Masters and PHD students. During the last half of the workshop we set electrodes onto our Hosta undulata.

Bio-sonification during York Universities 1st annual Makers Fair. Spider plant hooked up sending its bio-data into Ableton. We added some Bach style arpeggiator, a little delay and lowered pitch -12 ;) We also had some amazing volunteers allow us to hook em up! 12 kids completed a circuit. Lots of fun.

After the Bio-sonification module building workshop (Feb 23) participants placed electrodes onto a plant and recorded its bio-data to midi (Animoog) and Ableton. Here are the results!

Recording bio-data off friends while they meditate.

My Stropharia rugosoannulata aka wine cap mycelium is in danger. Somehow the bag was compromised and Trichoderma entered the scene... I kept the parameters simple. The beginnings are all healthy mycelium then, I placed the electrodes onto the Trichoderma. Time for the compost bin!

Thursday, January 17th, 2019 the opening reception for

Planete Sauvage took place as part of the DesignTo Festival. During the event, I held a demo/intro to sculpting with mycelium and midi bio-sonification. Brave participants placed electrodes onto their fingers, earlobes and I recorded their bio-data, making sure to use the same parameters for each subject.

Ashley starts the set.

At 6 minutes, 51.725 seconds in Linsay's set starts.

At 13 minutes, 26.306 seconds Sinjin's set starts.

At 20 minutes, 17.081 seconds Rachel's set starts and around 26 minutes in a spike happens- what is the cause of this spike? Rachel and her partner are now hooked up to each other and holding hands. They kiss.

At 28 minutes, 19.505 seconds Damn Zombie's set starts.

As usual, I recommend headphones for the best sound experience.

Unless of course, you have an amazing sound system!

Can you hear and feel the differences?

Please leave comments below.

Thank you again to the participants for sitting with me

and allowing your bio-data to take part in Midnight Mushroom Music!