Trees and fungi have a mutualistic relationship, in which the fungus receives sugars from the tree, and the tree receives water and minerals from the fungus. The fungus grows a network of hyphae around the roots of the tree, increasing the tree's ability to absorb water and nutrients from the soil, allowing for the exchange of resources and information between plants, and connecting individual plants together to transfer water, nitrogen, carbon and other minerals. Rethinking this form of relationship, the project explores the possibility of fungal mycelium becoming the structural and performative layer of the design piece.
Spreading throughout the woodenpiece, fungi serve as bioindicator with a capacity to monitor the presence of toxins or other pollutants in the environment. Fungal mycelia are sensitive to changes in air and water quality, responding to these changes by altering their growth patterns and behaviour. In their study Dehshibi and Adamatzky investigate the actinic potential of oyster mushrooms, which is measured in the form of spikes of electric potential. The complexity of these spikes frames a fungal metalanguage which can be measured and decoded. 'By changing the environmental conditions, we can reprogram a geometry and a theoretical structure of the graphics of mycelium networks and then use the electrical activity of the fungi to create computing circuits' (Dehshibi, Adamatzky 2021).
Considering the ability of the mushroom mycelium to solve a wide range of computational tasks, we can imagine a use of fungi properties as a biosensor capable of receiving and transmitting information from a designed piece to an automated machinic system integrated with an evolutionary neural network algorithm. An embedded bio-electric sensing system creates a living interface, enabling the pieces to operate as synthetically living entitiy. This shifts the focus from merely responsive or adaptive systems to bio-technological living ecosystems shaped by human, biological, and machinic intelligence.