Motherplants - Jenny Pickett & Julien Ottavi

MotherPlant : Computational Mycelium Recycling Network

Using dead motherboards from old computers, we turn them into micro-farm land in an attempt to recycle the components of the motherboard and to produce an electrical current with the objective of creating an alternative an open system for computational data exchange.

Re-creation of the fungal network as an electronic mutation

In MotherPlant we are trying to create a new form of electronic circuit that mutates with a primitive fungal network. Primitive because a proper fungal network could deploy its rhizome across many hectares of soil connecting plants and trees together. We are far from connection hundreds of items together, our intention is not to re-create what natures does far better than us. Instead, we want to create and organise a mutation between electronic circuitry and a localised fungal network.

This begins with a few spores settling down on a nutritious surface. When these spores wake up in close proximity to one another they start germinating at approximately the same time and grow outwards as thread-like cells (hyphae) at a similar rate. The electronics feed on both the sun and wet soil, pregnant with (DIY) mycelium growth. As an information superhighway the interactions between a large, diverse population of individuals speeds up. It allows individuals who may be separated to communicate and help each other out. It also allows them to commit new forms of communication.