Let’s Become Fungal!

Let’s Become Fungal! An invitation to humans to embrace learnings from the fungal kingdom/queendom, Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodriguez and Juan Ferrer of Museo del Hongo will lead a workshop that explores lessons in "fungal activism," and collaboration for artists, gardeners, and educators inspired by metaphors of the mycelium and the mushroom. Each of the book’s 12 chapters offers teachings on collaboration, decoloniality, nonlinearity, toxicity, mobilization, biomimicry, death and being nonbinary, while also examining the world of fungi. 

Juan will lead the group in an exploration of sound and movement inspired by the fungal universe.

What’s Included:

• Readings
• Reflections
• Music

What to Bring:

• Wear comfortable clothing as this workshop will take place in a covered pergola outside.
• Water bottle (no potable water on site)
• Notebook and pen (optional)

About Facilitators

Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodríguez is a writer, curator and researcher on art and ecology. She is the founder and director of the Green Art Lab Alliance (established in 2012); a network comprising sixty art organizations across Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. The mission of the alliance is to foster relationships that contribute to social and environmental justice, akin to the interconnected nature of mycelium. She is a self-proclaimed "mycophile", interested in exploring the application of a mycological lens in defining fair models of collaboration and (self) organization. Her debut book, "Let's Become Fungal! Mycelium Teachings and the Arts," shares twelve teachings of the world of fungi.

Juan Ferrer is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and curator navigating art, science, and the social-ecological crisis. He founded Museo del Hongo in 2016, a pop-up/virtual museum integrating art, mycology, and technology. Showcased work at Telluride Mushroom Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Ars Electronica, and Berlin Science Week and is currently completing his Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies at NYU.

About Field Meridians Nature School

FM Nature School is a project to co-create an arts-based urban ecology curriculum that reflects our neighborhood in Brooklyn—aiming to generate tools for resilience.

Field Meridians is an artist collective committed to strengthening local food ecologies. Through site-specific programming, publishing, and radio broadcast, Field Meridians engages the Crown Heights community to lay the foundations for food sovereignty in the heart of Brooklyn. Field Meridians is an extension of MOLD magazine, the critically acclaimed online and print magazine about design and the future of food.

Host or Publisher Field Meridians