Worms. Ants. Maggots. Beetles. Mushrooms. Death was almost the moment when life overflowed its cup. Death wasn’t the end of life. It was the end of the singular. The deer decayed out of its shape into explosive, generative plurality. One narrative diverged into four hundred narratives. If I feel myself, like the compost heap, beginning to melt, it means that I am also melting into another story. A bigger story. A wider cast of characters.

Let me dance between ripe and rot. I don’t know what act in the play comes next. But I know what my prayer is:
Make me bigger than an “I”. Make me good soil.
— Sophie Strand

The Mushroom Manifest, Frederic Zirbes
empty book overgrown with fungi.

excerpt from chapter one:
there are no rulers. we serve no one but life. […] nothing is ours and everything is ours. we produce what is needed and exchange. without demanding. we give what we can, not what we want. paving the way is the goal. to unfold what wants to be. […] we break down what no longer wants to be or can no longer be in order to make room for something new. […] we connect what wants to be connected. we are the connection. and we separate them when the time has come. we are the mirror of time. we were. we are. we will be.

Recent studies linking cognition and oxygen levels show that our cognitive functions depend on interdependent exchanges with non-human organisms, suggesting the soul’s migration has no clear beginning or end.

Metempsychosis, in philosophy, refers to the transmigration or reincarnation of the soul, especially after death. It wasn’t until the 18th and 19th centuries that scientists understood our breath depends on oxygen produced by plants, and in the 20th century, they discovered how plants rely on mycorrhizal connections with mycelium. 

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ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Mycofabrication: The Future of Art and Design

(The exhibition and talk series took place in Berlin, Germany, November 1st and 2nd.)

This group show takes the ancient idea of metempsychosis—aka soul migration—and flips it into a fresh perspective. Using mycelium as both a symbol and a material, artists explore its layers of meaning, highlighting connections, decay, and regeneration.

Mycofabrication—creating with mycelium—is the perfect example of interspecies design. It’s not about humans doing everything on their own; instead, it’s about collaboration with another organism, whose needs and ‘mind’ influence ours.

The show was a collective journey through interdisciplinary, interspecies art that invites viewers to rethink materiality, knowledge, and the interconnectedness of all life.

It’s about embracing transformation, regeneration, and the living, evolving 
power of nature.

It isn’t just something to look at; it’s part of an ongoing, collective experience that 
reaches beyond the human world.

Artists and designers:

Augusto Calcada, Matteo Campulla, Markella Davu, Sharlene Durfey François, Helena Elston, Fade Out Label, Francesco Fossati, Paulina Heidlberger, Benjamin Janzen, Jan Klappenecker, Dora Marfoldi, Victoria Martinez, Maria Kobylenko, Ruzica Jovanovic, Yuliia Ovcharyk, Emma Patmore, Ivona Pelajić, Arezoo Ramezani, Xristina Sarli, Nicole Spit, Amy Toshizu Kanajikken, Alina Tofan, Matthildur Valfells, Alessandro Volpato, Karin Weissenbrunner, Caroline Wimmer, Funda Zeynep Aygüler, Frederic Zirbes.

Speakers:

Dimitra Almpani-Lekka, Esther Betz and Ronja Kogow, Clara Sofia Fernandez, Thordes Herbst, Melissa Ingaruca Moreno, Alve Lagercrantz, Natalija Miodragovic, Eda Ozdemir, Giulio Perticari, Julian Roth, Emma Sicher, Nora Wilhelm.

Curated by Xristina Sarli
Produced by SYLIA*

*SYLIA TEAM

Alessandro Volpato, co-founder, biologist
Bea Brückner, ex-cofounder, material designer
Giulio Perticari, co-founder, CEO
Giulia Ciola, ex-cofounder, material designer
Tamara Núñez Guitar, biotechnologist, art-science researcher
Xristina Sarli, ex-cofounder, Mycoskin research and development, curator, XR Mycokits, art-science-technology researcher