Chris Henschke
For this iteration of the mycocube project, I sourced a mushroom growing in a field above the proton synchrotron booster ring at CERN, the European Laboratory for Nuclear Research. This is a development upon my previous mycocube, which sonified the state of a mycelial entity within a glass cube as it grew and decayed, expressing the state of the organism as a sound signature. Although I did not have the right devices at CERN to sonify the state of this mushroom, I have visualised the sound data of my previous mycelial growth experiment. With a bit of graphic tweaking the resultant visuals suggest a different type of decay to what was measured in my previous project. This work speculates upon the recent discovery that a strain of mycelium has developed the ability to absorb and break down nuclear materials and radioactive waste, which raises the question: do mushrooms like radioactive decay?
Chris Henschke
Chris Henschke is an artist who works with analogue and digital media, using methods and materials from experimental science, and has undertaken experimental interdisciplinary collaborations with scientists since 1991. Residencies include the National Gallery of Australia, 2004; an Asialink residency at Chulalongkorn University Bangkok, 2007; two residencies at the Australian Synchrotron, 2007 and 2010; and an ANAT Synapse residency with the CSIRO in Clayton, 2018-2019. Academic qualifications include a Doctorate of Philosophy from Monash University (2013-2017), comprised of on-site research/practice at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland, as part of the ‘art@CMS’ collaboration program.
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