Midnight Mushroom Music

Sitting outside this evening we were marvelling over how beautiful all of the Echinacea purpurea is this year. We have a field growing and thought it might sound lovely, with the bees landing, collecting pollen then flying back to their hive... electrical impulses sent into the Model 15, mixed down in Ableton X. Thanks for tuning in!

Today we soldered together a new Bio-Sonification module testing out our design/layout towards upcoming workshops! Part of the test involved hanging out under our Japanese maple. Our maple is a special one, a hybrid that I was initially told '...probably won't make it through one Canadian winter...' That was over ten years ago! Maple has flourished and spread its leaves. Our beloved Pnut was found under Maple. So, I sat down next to the tree and gently set electrodes onto leaf and branch. This track was recorded live, please excuse any background noise. :)

Chlorophytum comosum and Homo sapien sending BioData to Midi.

I am currently without Mycelium, all of the Mycelium was buried in Selfoss in my friend's garden. Soon I return to Toronto and start growing a massive sculptural piece towards Nuit Blanche, Toronto which is taking place Sept 29th. Meanwhile, there was a beautiful Spider plant in my friend's apartment so, I placed two sets of electrodes onto it and one set onto myself ;) this is the result of that! xo

Artist Gershom Spruijt sketched while his Bio-data was translated to Midi.

Gershom was born in the Netherlands and lived for many years in Amsterdam. From his years around the old Amsterdam canals he gained the idea that the 1960’s were perhaps not superior to the 1690s. After getting his PhD in Psychology and Epidemiology he moved to Los Angeles to study first sculpture and later painting at Otis College of Art and Design.

Currently, he teaches neuro-psychology of perception and imagination at both Otis College of Art and Design and at Art Center College of Design. At Otis he also teaches drawing and composition, and rendering in oil paint. He lectures both locally and internationally on perception and imagination. Gershom was an artist in residence at Gullkistan Centre for Creativity. Please check out his work here, https://gershom-art.com/about/

This episode brings me to the last recording in Laugarvatn with the Mycelium. I recorded the Mycelium's bio electrical activity during the Blood moon-lunar eclipse, what would be the longest lunar eclipse in the 21st century. As the eclipse took place a giant rainbow filled the sky above Hekla. It was an incredible moment.

Artist Brandy Green sat and worked clay while her BioData was translated to Midi.

Brandy Green uses ceramics to explore human personification in rocks. In researching how different rocks are formed and what qualities they possess, she assigns an emotional connotation which is palpable in her sculptural work. Follow Brandy's work on Instagram, @Boxing_Betta

Brandy was an artist in residence at Gullkistan Centre for Creativity.

Donna Spruijt-Metz is a poet, translator, and Professor of Psychology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Her first career was as a professional flutist. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in venues such as Vinyl, The Rumpus, and Naugatuck River Review. She gets restless.

Donna was a poet in residence at Gullkistan Centre for Creativity.

Donna's poem, The New Science of Slippery Surfaces was recently published in Poetry Northwest, http://www.poetrynw.org/donna-spruijt-metz-new-science-slippery-surfaces/

Around the 3rd week of June Mycelium was placed into a Hexagon shaped mould. It has now grown beyond the constraints of the mould, venturing out... fruiting.

Hanging around Laugarvatn being attacked by insects as I set electrodes onto various plants... Strange Mix came through a Make Noise NoCoast and Animoog

This evening I went up into the hills a bit. Just behind Gullkistan Centre for Creativity. There amongst the birch (Björk), geraniums and wildflowers a multitude of moss and lichen grow. Tonight two sessions are being uploaded.

1. Electrodes were gently placed onto Cetraria nestled within reindeer moss (Cladonia furcata). Cetraria is a genus of fruticose lichen that associate with green algae as photobionts. Which is the photosynthetic part of this particular lichen. Midi came through the Moog Model 15.