"Lifesaver" installation. Fungi

Mushrooms are not just strangely beautiful forest dwellers that pop their heads out from under tree stumps now and again. These are extremely complex and interesting organisms that spend their life mainly underground, in an expanding, transforming and moving mycelium, a network of fungal threads.

Biologically, fungi are classified separately from plants and animals. Genetically, they are closer to animals than plants. Fungi do not photosynthesise, they get their food by decomposing organic matter or by living in symbiosis with other organisms.

Mushrooms can therefore be the greatest friends as well as enemies. They care for and feed their symbiotic friends, drawing water and nutrients from the soil to them and receiving carbohydrates and energy from plant photosynthesis in return. Besides this, fungi are great decomposers – they can break down complex compounds such as cellulose and lignin and thereby turn fallen tree leaves and branches into soil, which in turn releases nutrients that are used by other living organisms.

Some mushrooms are edible, while others are extremely poisonous. Fungi are diverse biological synthesisers that can produce both simple and complex chemical compounds – from alcohol and carbon dioxide to penicillin. The biochemical creativity of the fungi is far more complex and mysterious than the processes for which people use mushrooms.

 
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If you want to create your own genetic music, you can use the free software Sonic Pi and the available download code here. You can adjust various parameters and instruments to alter the sounds:

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The purpose of "Lifesaver" is to open an important field in modern science – genetics – in the symbiosis of art and science. By now, this branch of science has achieved great significance internationally, since it is connected to various fields of science and life, such as personal medicine, archaeology and mental health. In Estonia, the knowledge of genetics in society has increased thanks to the work of the University of Tartu's Estonian Biobank, which has been joined by one-fifth of the adult population of Estonia.

The artist of the 'Lifesaver' project is Valdek Laur, who works in the field of digital media and jewellery and metal art and is interested in scientific communication and the visualisation of complex concepts and data sets.

The „Lifesaver" installation is part of the project 'Toomemägi Revisited' within the main programme of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024, bringing the historical heart of Tartu to life with the help of light, culture and science. The project is supported by SA Tartu 2024 and the Estonian Research Council.

More information: "Lifesaver" installation