New exhibition will dive into the world of fungi

The exhibition will juxtapose works of art, design objects, fashion and current scientific research. Carsten Höller’s sculptures of fly agarics will be placed next to Anna Dumitriu & Alex May’s artistic manipulations of yeast. The visitor will be able to experience the monumental video installation Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest by Marshmallow Laser Feast next to illustrator Joanna Hellgren’s newly created comics. Balenciaga will contribute a mushroom-based leather coat. Daniel Del Core’s mushroom-themed dress, created for artist Björk, occupies its own display case.

“There is a great deal of contemporary interest in fungi,” says Erika Lanner, Director of the Nobel Prize Museum. “By creating a thought-provoking encounter between art and science, we are continuing to work with an approach that also provided the basis for our acclaimed Life Eternal exhibition at Liljevalchs art gallery in Stockholm last autumn.”

The visitor will also be able to enter Nobel Prize laureate Olga Tokarczuk’s literary world, which is teeming with mushrooms, and gain insight into medicine laureate Alexander Fleming’s working methods. During the 20th century, he discovered that some bacteria stopped growing when they came into contact with a particular mould (a form of fungus). This discovery later led to the development of penicillin. The exhibition will provide knowledge about ongoing research on fungi in biology, geology and medicine. The questions that scientists are asking include: What can fungi tell us about the origin of life? And should we be afraid of Ophiocordyceps, which are also called “zombie mushrooms”?

The exhibition Fungi – In Art and Science will be on display from 30 September 2023 to 7 January 2024.

Artists participating in the exhibition: Balenciaga, Daniel Del Core, Anna Dumitriu & Alex May, Seana Gavin, Joanna Hellgren, Carsten Höller, Mae-ling Lokko, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Maurizio Montalti, Iwo Myrin, Olle Norås, Jae Rhim Lee, Phil Ross & Vera Meyer, Amanda Selinder and Lisa Schönberg & Allie ES Wist.

Researchers featured in videos that are part of the exhibition include: Anders Dahlberg, mycology (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Henrik Drake, geology (Linnaeus University), Hanna Johannesson, mycology (Stockholm University/Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences), Johan Lundberg, psychiatry (Karolinska Institutet), Anna Rosling, mycology (Uppsala University) and Sven Olov Wallenstein, philosophy (Södertörn University).

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