Spring is the beginning of the cycle where the gaze of mycologists and mushroom enthusiasts turns to the surface of the ground, searching under the leaves, among the hedges and brooms for the precious fruits of the mycelia. The encounter is followed by verbs that indicate the act of identification, classification and characterisation through their shapes, textures, colour, aroma and taste in the mouth. However, this programme approaches the world of mycology from a broad perspective, understanding that edible fungi represent only a small part of the Kingdom Fungi. For this reason, we approach the complexity of this Kingdom from an ecosystemic and multicausal viewpoint, in the delicate web of collaborations, interrelationships and interdependencies that fungi, their mycelia and hyphae establish with other beings in the natural environment, human and non-human. Mycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi have allowed us to understand the functioning of the surrounding forests, ecosystems that we have explored in the mycological walks that this activity hosts. Within a space of experimentation, this cycle connects different knowledge and fields of knowledge such as scientific, cultural and artistic, interconnecting them from the mutualistic and symbiotic interactions that we have learnt from fungi. This cycle is about learning from fungi in order to be a fungus and thus continue towards the expansion of life.
Arsenio Terrón and Darío Fernández have been the main collaborators of this programme in its 12 years of existence. In 2023, Deneb Martos joins the research process from the artistic field. In collaboration, Darío and Deneb develop the annual cycle Mycology. Being fungus, in which they combine the techniques of camera-less photography with the cultivation of fungi to generate material images that bear witness to the presence, the trace and the footprint of the life that lives underground.
