Fungi: Anarchist Designers

Curated by anthropologist Anna Tsing and designer Feifei Zhou (terriStories), the exhibition „FUNGI: Anarchist Designers” presents itself as an alternative to the current hype surrounding mycelium products. White vases or insulation materials made from fungal fibres are not the focus. Instead, fungi appear as ‘anti-designers’ – not as passive materials, but as unpredictable co-creators that only become effective in interaction with humans and other living beings.

The exhibition highlights the role of fungi, from the smallest organisms to large-scale plantations – covering topics ranging from amphibian diseases, kitchen utensils, hospital beds and the human digestive tract to coffee, banana and softwood plantations. Many of the works were created specifically for the exhibition in interdisciplinary collaboration between artists, anthropologists, ecologists and medical professionals. Visitors encounter paintings, sculptures, multimedia installations, sound art and interactive formats that open up different sensory approaches. One example is the collaboration between ecologists Ivette Perfecto and Zachary Hajian-Forooshani with artist Filipp Groubnov: they show the spread of coffee rust in Latin America and how industrial monocultures influence ecological balances. Other contributions focus on fungi in the cycle of radioactive contamination after Chernobyl or the interaction of fungi with archival materials when historical documents are ‘transformed’ by organisms.