Verbindung zu esel.at
Fungi are everywhere. They colonize our bodies and environments, enrich food and medicine, provide sustainable materials, and some even withstand the most extreme conditions. With their refined perceptual capacities, fungi are masters of adaptation and collaboration, engaging in myriad forms of symbiosis. Through their wood-wide webs, mycelial networks supply forests with vital resources and infrastructure while sequestering large amounts of carbon. They can divide into multiple individuals and persist for millennia—challenging prevailing notions of identity and terminality.
From shamans and witches to lucky New Year’s fly agarics and the psychedelic movement, fungi have always been woven into human culture. Yet as mediators between organic and inorganic matter, feared for their toxicity, and resisting categorization as well as cultivation, they have long been sidelined by academia—relegated to the underworld, dark spaces, and a secret knowledge embodying the unconscious »other« of an enlightened, rationalized view of nature and culture. Given today’s socio-ecological challenges, fungi offer a generative ground for rethinking ecological practice and more-than-human coexistence from below.
Concept: Co.Lab Mycelial Space / Sarah Kolb & Jutta Strohmaier (Linz)
Participants: Ilka Becker (Mainz), Magdalena Breitwieser (Linz), Roberto Dell’Orco (Paris), Jitka Effenberger (Linz), Johanna Ficht (Berlin), Erik Göngrich (Berlin), Karin Harrasser (Linz/Wien), Julia Ihls (Karlsruhe), Charlotte Janis (Paris), Maria Kobylenko (Berlin), Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian (New York), Fabricio Lamoncha (Linz), Flavia Matei (Linz), Peter McCoy (Portland, OR), Maja-Lisa Müller (Bielefeld), Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodríguez (Mexico City), Alison Pouliot (Victoria/Biel), Nora Wilhelm (Berlin), Feifei Zhou (New York, NY), a.o.
In cooperation with Wiener Pilzfestspiele
Program
Wednesday, 8 OCTOBER 2025
10:00 SPORA Studio Paris: Rotting Unconscious. DIY Mycology Workshop (only with registration: hoegler@ifk.ac.at)
14:30 Welcome and Introduction. Sarah Kolb and Jutta Strohmaier
15:30 Alison Pouliot: Underground Lovers. Fostering Fungal Networks of the Subterrain
17:00 Peter McCoy: A Return to the Web
18:30 SPORA: Rotting Unconscious Vernissage & Artist Talk
Thursday, 9 OCTOBER 2025
10:30 Maja-Lisa Müller: Theatrum Fungorum. An Ecosophical Play in Three Acts
11:30 Julia Ihls: Mycelial Modes of Coexistence. Towards a Convivial Material Ethic
14:30 Feifei Zhou: FUNGI, Anarchist Designers
15:30 Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian: Mycology as a Queer Discipline
17:00 Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodríguez: Mycelial Teachings in the Arts
18:00 Ilka Becker Mykoästhetik. Pilze, Kunst und Kino (Buchpräsentation im Gespräch mit Karin Harrasser)
Friday, 10 OCTOBER 2025
10:30 Johanna Ficht, Erik Göngrich, Maria Kobylenko and Nora Wilhelm: Pilz-Kunst-Labor, Berlin
11:30 Magdalena Breitwieser, Jitka Effenberger, Sarah Kolb, Fabricio Lamoncha, Flavia Matei and Jutta Strohmaier: Panel discussion
THE CONFERENCE WILL BE HYBRID
To participate via Zoom, you need to register for the meeting with your name and email address. The Zoom link will then be emailed to you immediately.
To participate in person, no registration is currently required.
