For The Ground Beneath Your Feet, Castlefield Gallery
16th November 2018-3rd February 2019
An attempt to understand examples of mutual aid in nature, in particular the mycorrhizal associations that 90% of plants form with fungi; and an attempt to gain a greater understanding of the soil ecology of which mycorrhizal fungus is a part, by mapping onto it a three-dimensional diagram of a human mutual aid system, the UK Climate Camps that took place form 2006 to 2010.
Spores included mycorrhizal gatherings 1: Inoculation (Hulme Community Garden Centre as part of The Ground Beneath Your Feet), 1.5 (Callis Community Garden, Todmorden) and 2: Primordia (Bluecoat Gallery, as part of Jade Montserrat’s exhibition Instituting Care) with accompanying zine
The diagram is based on a structural equation model of relationships between plant community attributes, microbial properties and ecosystem functioning in the 2018 paper Soil bacterial networks are less stable under drought than fungal networks by Bardgett, de Vries et al. Different elements of the UK Climate Camps, such as water, onsite power, process and legal support, were mapped onto elements of the ecosystem such as the plant community, fungal community, photosynthesis, various microbes and nitrous oxide. Each element was represented by a different fungus or plant and the strength of the lines indicated the strength of the relationship. Three extra elements were added for the exhibition: an air filter took on the role of the police, luminous fungus took the role of the Camp’s finance, and unexpected outcomes (such as the Zad occupation and successful airport resistance in Brittany) took the form of a series of oyster mushroom towers in the window.
NB Images of these two diagrams link to pdfs with links
Unexpected Outcomes
Photo credits: Jane Lawson, Jules Lister