“Mycelium Garden” by Diane Schuh

Title:

Mycelium Garden

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Artist Statement:

Symbiosis and Humanity(s) Exhibition, MSH Paris Nord, May 17- 27

This project aims to take into account the singularity of a mycelium network in a mode of interaction with humans that is based on listening and attention. We are building a setup for the development of sensitive interactions with the mycelium, an organism that facilitates symbioses, through an interpretation of the specificity of its electrical expressions connected to our human musical world.

To build this interaction we will develop AI models to map the behavior of the mycelium, co-compose sounds with the recorded and classified electrical variations and finally build an interspecific and sensitive relationship. This model will attempt to retain the dimension of otherness in sensory interaction.

It will share an experimental process that will allow us to enter into a relationship with a non-human organism, to observe its behavior and to adjust our behavior in interaction with it. Thus questioning the notions of intelligence and adaptation in a three-agent human/AI/Mycelium compositional process. What would be the mycelium’s intelligence compared to that of the human musician and that of the artificial intelligence: what do we mean by this? This installation addresses the importance of recognizing the otherness of non-human beings in the ecological project of caring for the living.