The Fungal Cour(p)se

My mushroom workshop made its international debut in Seoul, South Korea, for a pop-up exhibition The Course, by Set, a queer collective curating at the intersection of contemporary art and food. The program unfolded like a menu, with artworks like recipes in a cookbook. Courses included traditional makgeolli and kimchi making, cooking with algae and seaweed, even performances with latex and slime.

The Fungal Cour(p)se juxtaposed a human body outlined in alpana, with edible sculptures using fungal-based foods and medicines. A sourdough bread brain with mold marbled cheeses, a womb made of kombucha sweetened with Korean summer melons, lungs and heart of cordyceps and chaga tea, reproductive organs made of roasted oyster mushrooms erected from a giant petri of rice. I also handmade mushroom paper tea cups. Participants consumed the body during the presentation as a way to explore the dualities of parasitism and symbiosis.