“If Utopia is a movement towards and not simply a being in place, then there are practices one can build and refine to get there. I see mycofabrication as a very promising one.”
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Giulio, I come from the pearl of the Mediterranean—Rimini—and you can catch me at Top LAB or walking in the streets with my truffle dog Lana.
What is your background?
Neuroscience, philosophy, and literature. For many years I wrote for an independent travel magazine about culture, art, and fashion. I also took care of editorial curation and managing collaborations for each new issue. Some odd jobs that I have done include being an international recruiter for engineers, an event manager on luxury wooden schooners on New York’s waterfronts, and a marketing manager at the German copycat of Etsy.
What brought you to mycelium and mushrooms?
Besides an early love for porcini and Toad, the mushroom character in Mario Kart, my fascination for mycelium really developed when I read The Mushroom at The End of the World in 2018. I started researching the use of mushroom and mycelium in neuroscience, and read books by McKenna, Stamates, and Sheldrake. Once I had a grasp of mycelium’s potential and its connection with the evolution of human cognitive development, it was a wrap for me, finally I had found a conceptual hub that contained all my interests, from cultural evolution, to phenomenology, design, fashion, nature, waste, experimentation, and citizen science.
How did you end up in Berlin?
After graduating from high school sucking at German but loving its literature, I decided to spend that summer in Berlin to learn the language before going back to Italy for university. When I got out of the bus at Alexander Platz, I thought to myself, these ugly buildings just plopped from the sky! It was far from love at first sight, but enough for a summer fling. Yet after stints in Rome and Switzerland I came back and studied here. Then moved back-and-forth from the States three times. Somehow, though, Berlin has always brought me back through its unconventional pull.
Can you share a project that you are particularly proud of and why?
Two years ago I was working for an AI incubator, and was captivated by the atmosphere around founding teams. I took a semester-long course about developing a startup business at Humboldt. On the first day we were asked about our business ideas, and I was adamant about doing something with materials made out of mushrooms—virtually all fellow participants didn’t know what I was even talking about, and yet here we are today!
What is your role in SYLIA?
I focus a lot on the team’s dynamic and constellation—the most important thing is that we are all in a position to carry out our talents to their fullest potential and create an infectious momentum for the whole enterprise. As the most senior member of the team, I’m the veteran control tower: I have the overview of what has happened and which opportunities to seek out in order to make our vision financially sustainable for the years to come. My role is to amplify what we do through storytelling, marketing, collaborations and strategic partnerships.
What motivates you in your work?
Finding meaning in what I do, which takes many forms: being experimental and bold, producing a material that excites people and fulfils market and environmental needs, doing something cool and inspiring others to explore their own passions, working and collaborating with people that are driven, creative and follow their dreams. Also, the realization that in the end I wouldn’t trade what I do with anyone else.
How do you see the future of mycofabrication?
Splendid! With all the waste in the world, there’s an organism that can help us regenerate it, by literally forming it into new objects and materials, which when thrown away, will be reintegrated into the soil, enriching it. And there’s more: most people can make their own material at home if they chose to—mycofabrication is very DIY-friendly! And should they choose to simply buy it, that’s amazing too: they are happy, we are happy, and soils, waterways, and animals are happy as well (and yes, I approve anthropomorphizing nature and naturalizing humans)!
What are some of your favorite poetry, books, films, or works of art?
Books are my obsession, novels especially. I love it when a writer is able to express the unsaid through language—their characters’ stupidity, ironies, splendors and contradictions. Right now I’m reading Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Laclos, and it’s brilliant! The way Laclos is able to describe emotions in the web of rococo social norms is light years ahead of what social cognitive scientists can say about ours today. And while his sociopathic libertine anti-heroes are seducing and entertaining the reader, societal expectations as a whole are ridiculed.
For me art needs to go against the grain, follow its own rules, and be free. I like virtue and virtuosity, fearless and funny. I like the Guerilla Girls, David Wojnarowicz, Dadaists, Piero Manzoni, Philip Dick, Colette, Aldo Busi.
When it comes to films, I like camp à la John Waters, for instance in Pink Flamingo and Serial Mom, and the surreal à la Buñuel, for example in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, or in David Lynch’s masterpiece Twin Peaks Season 3.
What does your utopia look like?
Utopia for me is when the mind is in harmony with the environment, i.e. the inside is on the same frequency as the outside and vice versa. It means not needing to dissociate because life is so contradictory and society is so hostile for its semi-unconscious death drive. Utopia supersedes and contains all ironies at the same time. In less abstract terms: no militaries, no empty consumerism, no linear production, no revolting capital accumulation. Yes to openness, mutualism, solidarity, active imagination, play, freedom and peace. Even more concretely? Utopia is also the absence of tasks like filling out papers and forms. Also, wouldn’t it be cool if there was no need for money?
If Utopia is a movement towards and not simply a being in place, then there are practices one can build and refine to get there. I see mycofabrication as a very promising one.
“Slave of the Arts
Riding life without saddle
Balance is for Gods.”
Can you introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Xristina Sarli. I am a multidisciplinary artist, hybrid curator, and researcher working at the intersection of mixed realities. My work fuses art, science, technology, and nature.
What is your background?
My background is experimental and diverse, from painting to coding to mycohacking, encompassing art, science, and technology. I explore the depths of quantum queerness in cyberground multiplayer game environments.
What brought you to mycelium and mushrooms?
It was a pivotal moment in my life, an experience I call “A Slap of Life” in 2022, that drew me to the fascinating world of mycelium and mushrooms.
How did you end up in Berlin?
Ten years ago, I applied to transfer my studies to Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, where I was accepted and continued my diploma in painting and visual arts.
Can you share a project that you are particularly proud of and why?
As a visually impaired artist (65%), I take pride in all that I produce with the aid of science and technology. I am particularly proud of “Señor Pulpo AR,” my first augmented reality comic book. This collaborative project* is a testament to my childhood dream of experiencing a book that its illustrations come to life, realized through the fusion of art and technology. Born from the necessity of using technology to enhance my blurred vision, this book allows readers to see animated images through a screen. It’s a heartfelt project that blends past aspirations with present innovations, and I hope it inspires others to value their own dreams.
*Señor Pulpo is a collaborative project with augmented reality (AR), developed and implemented in the Production Lab of the EU project AURORA at HTW – University for Applied Sciences Berlin. During the 6-month collaboration with the AURORA team, I have received a tremendous support: Not only regarding the courses and subsequent application development, but also all necessary resources, including the necessary software licenses, AR and media production workstations, and the Production Lab. The project and therefore also Señor Pulpo were made possible by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the INP-II program with support from the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. The print of the book was generously financed by HTW Berlin.
In collaboration with the AURORA developer team, all audio, two- and three-dimensional visual fragments could be expanded and augmented to allow for contemporary interactive storytelling. I was fortunate to work closely with André Selmanagić and Leonid Barsht, whose contribution to the project cannot be overstated.
My deepest gratitude also goes to Aron Ottignon, the New Zealand-born and Berlin-based prolific musician and prodigious pianist who has found time for producing, composing, and engineering the music content.
What is your role in SYLIA?
At SYLIA, I am a lab researcher, artist, and curator. My hybrid role involves mycofabrication and mycohacking, developing new applications for mycelium in art and technology. As a transdisciplinary team, we translate these ideas into tangible, impactful projects collectively.
What motivates you in your work?
I am motivated by divine madness, extreme curiosity, synchronicities, random discoveries and DIY ethos. These elements keep my work dynamic and deeply personal.
How do you see the future of mycofabrication?
I only see a future with mycofabrication.
What are some of your favorite poetry, books, films, or works of art?
I am enlightened by all forms of avant-garde, DADA, and experimental works across poetry, literature, film, and art that serve as “cognitive updates”. I view them as puzzles and multispecies games. One of my favourite examples is Kazimir Malevich’s “Black Square,” which I use as a “Turing Test” for AI generative models to compare their ingenuity to that of human avant-garde artists.
In 2015, during the X-ray and restoration of “Black Square,” a prompt signed by Malevich was discovered: “Two black men fight in a tunnel in the middle of the night.” This prompt generated a black square and echoed a knowledge transfer from 100 years ago, originating from Alfonso Allais, who created a comic strip with the text: “Two black men fight in a cave in the middle of the night.” Even earlier, “Et sic in infinitum…” from Robert Fludd, astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist and Rosicrucian. who included a similar prompt that generated a black square in his Utriusque Cosmi (1617).
In my first attempt to use generative AI, I provided this prompt, but it did not produce a black square, even when I referenced the “style” of Malevich and Allais. I continue to test various prompts that should generate black, but AI has yet to match the processing of human avant-garde artists.
What does your utopia look like?
My utopia is a world of zero waste and zero suffering, featuring open-source luxury, quantum queerness, glowing algae garments, fungal computers, kombucha circuits, augmented brains, no war, no abuse, and no hubris. Imagine a sunset at a solarpunk festival at the Eye of the Sahara, dancing on a colossal excavator that produces energy by moving solar-charged sand*.
*Solar-Charged Sand
Thermal Storage: Sand can be used as a medium for thermal energy storage. It can be heated by solar power during the day and then release that heat over time. This concept is already used in concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, where materials like molten salts store heat collected from the sun and then use it to generate electricity.
Solar Absorption: Sand with specific properties or coatings could potentially be designed to absorb and retain more solar energy, improving its efficiency as a thermal storage medium.
Quantum Physics
Quantum Dots: These are semiconductor particles only a few nanometers in size, which have unique optical and electrical properties due to quantum mechanics. Quantum dots can be engineered to enhance the efficiency of solar cells by capturing a broader spectrum of sunlight and converting it into electricity.
Quantum Coherence: In photosynthesis, plants use quantum coherence to transfer energy efficiently. Mimicking this process in artificial systems could potentially improve the efficiency of solar energy conversion.
Hypothetical Energy Production System
A speculative system combining these elements could work as follows:
Collection: Solar panels or CSP systems concentrate sunlight onto sand, which is designed to have optimal properties for heat absorption and storage.
Storage: The heated sand stores thermal energy. This sand could be made more efficient by incorporating materials that take advantage of quantum effects to store more energy or reduce losses.
Conversion: The stored thermal energy is converted to electricity, potentially using advanced thermoelectric materials that incorporate quantum dots to improve efficiency.
Quantum Enhancements: Using principles from quantum physics, such as enhanced energy transfer mechanisms, could increase the overall efficiency of the energy conversion process.
Conclusion
While the direct use of “solar-charged sand” combined with quantum physics is not a current technology, the ideas of using advanced materials for solar energy absorption, storage, and conversion are actively being researched. Combining these fields holds promise for the development of more efficient and sustainable energy systems in the future.
“If you want to incorporate this speculative technology into your vision of a utopia, it’s plausible as an advanced, future-oriented concept grounded in ongoing scientific research and innovation.”
“My motivation comes from the perspective of designing sustainable alternatives that will contribute to diminish human impact on the environment and improve our collective experience on this planet.”
Can you introduce yourself?
I’m Alessandro, scientist and freelancer. With my practice I push accessibility in science specifically for research in social and environmental sustainability.
What is your background?
I studied and worked as a biologist. After relocating to Berlin, I started TOP Lab, a community lab, which is a space that allows knowledge transfer among biotechnology, science in general, art, design and architecture.
What brought you to mycelium and mushrooms?
While offering workshops to DIY science enthusiasts, I was approached by Art Laboratory Berlin and TU Berlin to do the same for fungal based materials; Since then I was fascinated by the opportunities of designing with Fungi, and kept researching on this topic in TOP Lab.
How did you end up in Berlin?
After my graduation and work in Padova, I was looking for a place that allowed freedom of exploring one’s own goals. I travelled across Europe’s cities, and Berlin was the one having the best matching offer.
Can you share a project that you are particularly proud of and why?
My participation in MY-CO BUILD, with Vera Meyer and Sven Pfeiffer. That project had the challenge of developing a consistent myco-materials production pipeline for non-experts plus having an approach to negative mould production on demand.
I managed to achieve the results, although in a small scale, and use this know-how to develop a system to approach this issue in general.
What is your role in SYLIA?
I supervise the biolab part, the technical development of the products, the design of the experiments and the establishment of a scalable production process.
What motivates you in your work?
My motivation comes from the perspective of designing sustainable alternatives that will contribute to diminish human impact on the environment and improve our collective experience on this planet.
How do you see the future of mycofabrication?
Mycofabrication has a lot of potential both in the micro and macro scale. The technology is ready for the creation of small objects, but Fungi as a molecular machine have much more to offer. In my opinion, the best inventions have yet to be researched, understood and turned into something useful.
What are some of your favorite poetry, books, films, or works of art?
In general works of art; this because art engages my personal part and forces me to think critically.
What does your utopia look like?
My Utopia is to create a completely circular economy, where human and nature co-exist in harmony.
