The Fungi Factor
Installation with two videos, different mushroom-based materials and living mushroom culture, Matthias Fritsch, 2023
produced by Onassis Stegi Athens and LABoral Centro del Arte Gijon

If we look at the climate as a system, a lot depends on the composition of the atmosphere.
Here, fungi are an important factor in the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide, as they close the carbon cycle. Fungi are responsible for most of the decomposition of organic matter on land and underwater and distribute nutrients to all life on earth, especially plants. It is a robust system of interactions that has evolved over a billion years.
In addition to their role in the biosphere, fungi offer many ways for us humans to cope with the damage caused by the disruption of the carbon cycle over the last 200 years.

Thanks to their nature as decomposers, fungi can obtain food from organic waste in dark and underground places where plants cannot photosynthesize. Medicinal mushrooms can help with the increasing health and psychological problems we are facing due to our changing environment. Harmful materials such as plastics or energy-intensive materials such as mineral wool can be replaced by mycelium-based materials. Some fungi even have the ability to clean polluted soils.

In addition to two videos on the nature of fungi, the installation shows examples of various positive aspects in which fungi can play a more important role for the benefit of our future.

related works:

Data Strike
Weekly Routine

Waldgartenpilot Rehfelde
Large forest garden project

Living Room Composter
DIY & Low Cost Composing System for Home