Earth Rising - ann ensor

EARTH-RISING

Cultures Rising is a response and celebration to the mycological and microscopic worlds found in earth and around us. The work considers the amazing cultures and properties of these organisms. A handful of earth teems with multiple varieties of bacteria, fungus, and virus. These microscopic beings decompose the debris so matter can be composed again into new entities - constant recycling of materials bringing about destruction and rebirth resulting in a constant sacrifice. These little microbes are in the earth and the air working away balancing our environments and causing a continual transformation of matter. Cultures Rising uses mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus to grow bricks in a mould using sawdust, garden, and paper waste. Leather has been grown from the microbes in the air and leftover tea and sugar. The installation shows the moulding properties of mycelium and the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast or SCOBY found in Kombucha. These are very sustainable materials. Sounds from the earth and insects have been recorded for a soundscape.

21 - 23 October 2022 IMMA