Mycolyra — Eternity in Sustaining Oscillations
From the “MycoMythologies Series” (2020-ongoing).
Kinetic Sound Object, organic score. Wood, metal, instrument strings, mushroom mycelium, sensors, motor, sound.
This sound instrument builds a bridge between mythology and mycology*. The ancient tale of the hero Orpheus, who descends into the underworld to persuade the god Hades to let his wife Eurydice go with the sound of his lyre, finds an unusual echo in the transformative power of the Asian Reishi or Lingzhi mushroom (lat. Ganoderma lingzhi). It is called the “mushroom of immortality” in traditional Chinese medicine due to its life-prolonging effects.
The beguiling sound of Orpheus’ lyre and the healing power of Reshi symbolise—metaphorically and materially—overcoming death. Sound and active ingredients are intended to free us from the linearity of time. What would happen if both were combined in one instrument?
The Mycolyra is the fusion of the legendary instrument with the biological processes of the fungal networks. The vibration of the strings is driven by the vital functions of the fungus. Their sound connects the spheres of human and other-than-human resonance.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
“The sound instrument Mycolyra intertwines the legendary tale of Orpheus’s Lyre with the properties of the Ganoderma lucidum fungi, also known as reishi or lingzhi mushrooms.
The myth of Orpheus, who descends into the underworld armed only with his lyre, evokes a collective human yearning to transcend the ephemerality of life. Orpheus’s mythological journey resonates with the transformative potential attributed to reishi mushrooms, sought after for their health-enhancing and life-extending qualities, earning them the appellation “Mushrooms of Immortality.” Therefore, both Orpheus’s Lyre and Ganoderma lucidum mushrooms metaphorically and materially represent a quest for immortality, seeking to liberate themselves from the constraints of linear time. However, what if the sound of a string’s sustained oscillations, shaped by an electrical signal from intricate networks of Ganoderma lucidum, could expand into cyclical moments, effectively halting linear time? If we understand that the quest for immortality as a search for eternity, perhaps eternity could indeed be found in the sustaining oscillations of sound?” (Saša Spačal)
SAŠA SPAČAL
The post-media artist and researcher of life systems Saša Spačal lives and works away from human hustle and bustle in the woodland near Ljubljana. She develops installations and performances that interact with fauna, flora and funga*. In doing so, she specifically seeks out moments of co-creation with non-human species.
*Mycology: The science of fungi. Fungi have hybrid characteristics of both animals and plants: they do not photosynthesise but digest organic material using enzymes outside their bodies. Their fruiting body, known as the mushroom, consists mostly of protein, and they can survive in complete darkness while connecting forest and meadows with mycelial networks.
*Funga (artificial word made up of fungi and flora): Funga is a newly coined term intended to represent the global community of fungi, similar to how flora represents plants and fauna represents animals. The term is part of a contemporary effort to understand the environment through the lens of species-collectives rather than breeds.