Curated by Francesca Gavin, who says mushrooms have always been seen as “something witchy, something darker, something that’s about decay.” Highlighting the scene in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland (published in 1865) when Alice is greeted by a caterpillar atop a giant mushroom as a “gateway moment” for mushrooms beginning to be seen as something strange but friendly in our society.
https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/mushroom-wellness-trend
An attempt to reengage with the natural world, the short exhibition feels like it is born from millennial’s connection to nature through their houseplant obsession and how mushrooms relate to the wellness trend. It is suggested that mushrooms are to thank for the beginning of our entire world and that we all evolve from them. As well as mushrooms being an answer to modern problems; I was previously unaware of their powers in regards to oil spills and sustainability in fast fashion.
The parts of the exhibition that most grabbed my attention and I felt inspired further exploration in my project were displays in relation to consuming mushrooms for their psychedelic effects and how mushrooms are received in pop culture. Psilocybin is the naturally occurring psychedelic drug found in mushrooms. The exhibition brought my attention to the article published in 1957 in US Life magazine by Robert Gordon Wasson titled “Seeking the Magic Mushroom”.
“Seeking The Magic Mushroom“. http://www.psychedelic-library.org/lifep2.htm
The article is apparently a very ’50s example of tone-deaf cultural tourism’ however, Wasson is still credited with bringing the idea of mushrooms as more than just a vegetable to the Western world. This element of the exhibition made me curious about how I could investigate and represent the positive effects of psychedelics as cultural. Considering how sacred the mushrooms are conveyed to be to the Mexican hosts in Wasson’s article as well as in traditional Chinese medicine and other asian cultures.
The exhibition also gave me space for thought about mushrooms in pop culture, aside from the influence on creativity and specifically in music, which I have been mostly focused on so far in my project. Considering our culture as either mycophobic (mushroom phobic) or mycophilic (mushroom loving). To consider mushrooms as friendly in our society, through recognisable cartoons like super Mario bros, the Smurfs and literature like Alice in wonderland . It is interesting to consider the natural psychedelic affects of mushrooms and their illegality in the UK yet how they are seen as friendly through pop culture.
Practice-based Research Project 