Descent into the Fungal

2017 - Installation (Installation)

8 min 36 and 5 min 29

Andrey Shental


Descent into the Fungal is a two-channel video and a sculptural installation. The mushroom / sculptural element is site-specific and is grown from readymade mushroom blocks sold by mushroom farmers. They are given two weeks to mature and follow their natural cycle, bringing the natural element directly into the white cube. One video channel is situated within a scientific method of thinking— the artist thinks about issues of symbiosis and the ways in which fungal networks are intertwined with their surroundings. Here, the natural becomes the digital and vice-versa. The other video is from the perspective of the mushroom— it has its own language, albeit compressed and digitized in nature. The video presents fungi as a conscious being, giving personality and human-like behaviour to it. Presented on a green-screen background void of any surroundings, this channel contrasts with the documentary side and shows the fungus as its own sentient self . The two channels are displayed facing each other, leaving the viewer situated between the ‘scientific’ and the ‘mushroom speak’.


Andrey Shental is an independent artist, theorist, cultural critic, and curator based in Moscow. He is a member of the board of experts of Moscow Biennale for Young Art, and has previously worked as senior editor at Theory and Practice (2013-2015) and Moscow Art Magazine (2015-2017). Currently he is working as a foreign correspondent at Flash Art International and invited curator of educational programmes at CCA Winzavod . In his films, video essays and presentations, he investigates the forms of production of knowledge, circulation of internet images, and the relationships between the digital and the natural.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Pia Camil
© » KADIST

Pia Camil, Espectacular Cortina and more...

SF Camerawork Show Honors the Relationship Between Black Cowboys and Their Horses
© » KQED

Charles Lee at SF Camerawork: Black Cowboys and Their Horses | KQED Skip to Nav Skip to Main Skip to Footer The Do List SF Camerawork Show Honors the Relationship Between Black Cowboys and Their Horses Nia Coats Dec 13 Save Article Save Article Failed to save article Please try again Facebook Share-FB Twitter Share-Twitter Email Share-Email Copy Link Copy Link An installation view of Charles Lee's show 'sweat + dirt' at SF Camerawork...

CIAS Blends Sensibilities of Tattooing, Ancient Artists in His Paintings
© » HIGH FRUCTOSE

Carlos Mendes, who works under the name CIAS, is a painter and tattoo artist with a penchant toward ancient art history...

Pandemic in the Philippines: A cultural sector on its own
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Pandemic in the Philippines: A cultural sector on its own | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles August 17, 2020 By Katrina Stuart Santiago (2,200 words, 8-minute read) When I was first asked to write about “cultural leadership” in the Philippines, I turned up a blank...

Martin Creed: Words and Music
© » KADIST

KADIST co-presents a multi-media evening with Martin Creed...

“Green Snake: women-centred ecologies” at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
© » MOUSSE MAGAZINE

“Green Snake: women-centred ecologies” at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong — Mousse Magazine and Publishing...

Robbie Augspurger
© » UNRATED

Robbie Augspurger — UNRTD™ Robbie Augspurger Photographer Robbie Augspurger's retro portrait style is far for limited, looking at his work it is apparent that his creative undertaking is hilarious and brilliant, down to the very last impeccable detail...

Experiencing a slice of life: Artist’s Block by ArtWave
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Experiencing a slice of life: Artist’s Block by ArtWave | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints Zinkie Aw March 1, 2022 By Noorul Raaha As’art (830 words, 3-minute read) Waterloo Street is a smorgasbord of sensory experiences, from Hindu and Buddhist temples coexisting side by side, to old uncles and aunties hawking religious paraphernalia, shaded by their New Moon abalone umbrellas, and stalls offering acupuncture services, amongst other things...

Flowing Reflections: “EARTH” at the M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival 2018
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Flowing Reflections: “EARTH” at the M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival 2018 | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Bernie Ng Left: "EARTH", by Rudi Cole and Júlia Robert Parés, HumanHood (UK); Right: "Filled with sadness, the old body attacks" by Kim Jae Duk June 25, 2018 By Jocelyn Chng (960 words, 6-minute read) EARTH opens the 2018 edition of the M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival, the annual festival organised by T...

A Statue Draped With Snakes? In Italy, It Happens Every Year.
© » NYTIMES LENS

A Statue Draped With Snakes? In Italy, It Happens Every Year...

Study of History III
© » KADIST

Subas Tamang

2018

Study of History III by Subas Tamang is an etching and aquatint print based on photographs taken by German photographer Volkmar Wentzel in 1949...

‘Leave the World Behind’ Is a Terrific Blend of Thriller, Disaster and Satire
© » KQED

Review: ‘Leave the World Behind’ Is a Brilliant Hitchcockian Thriller | KQED Skip to Nav Skip to Main Skip to Footer The Do List ‘Leave the World Behind’ Is a Terrific Blend of Thriller, Disaster and Satire Mark Kennedy, Associated Press Dec 5 Save Article Save Article Failed to save article Please try again Facebook Share-FB Twitter Share-Twitter Email Share-Email Copy Link Copy Link Mahershala Ali, Myha’la Herrold, Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke in ‘Leave the World Behind.’ (JoJo Whilden/ Netflix) Imagine that it’s close to midnight and there’s a knock at the door of your luxurious weekend rental home...

5 Museum Exhibitions to See in Miami During Art Basel
© » GALERIE MAGAZINE

5 Museum Exhibitions to See in Miami During Art Basel - Galerie Subscribe Art + Culture Interiors Style + Design Emerging Artists Discoveries Artist Guide More Creative Minds Life Imitates Art Real estate Events Video Galerie House of Art and Design Subscribe About Press Advertising Contact Us Follow Galerie Sign up to receive our newsletter Subscribe Installation view of "Hernan Bas: The Conceptualists" at the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach...

Stanley "Tom" Durrell, Tinsmith
© » KADIST

Sharon Lockhart

2008

Lockhart’s film Lunch Break investigates the present state of American labor, through a close look at the everyday life of the workers at the Bath Iron Works shipyard—a private sector of the U...

Ukraine-Russia / Volleyball
© » KADIST

Victor & Sergiy Kochetov

1992

Ukraine-Russia / Volleyball by Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov features a concrete monument of women volleyball players before the railway station in the village of Vodyanoye, Kharkiv region...

Matt Lipps Part 2
© » KADIST

Matt Lipps, Populist Camera at Silverman Gallery Sf...

Turtle Walk
© » KADIST

Sora Kim

2010

Turtle Walk is a video installation that documents two performers carrying large white disks on their backs as they walk through the urban environment of Seoul...

Interview: Tech Visionary Oliver Luckett Shares His Amazing Contemporary Art Collection - via My Modern Met
© » LARRY'S LIST

“Almost every piece of art in our home is either from the artist themselves or from a shared experience.”...