Author: kline.434

Watch Fungal Entanglement: A Lichen Journey

| kline.434

 

Fungal Entanglement: A Lichen Journey, was a participatory performance led by the Lichen Likers art research group. We gathered people on the Ohio State University campus and took them on a journey to visit lichens and learn about their lifestyles. We brought the entire fungal entanglement to the Biological Sciences Greenhouse for an Earth Day art exhibition, In a Hotter House, that included work by the Lichen Likers, students in the Art & Science course (co-taught by faculty members Iris Meier and Amy Youngs), and seven invited local artists.

Credits:

Fungal Entanglement artists: Anna Arbogast, Madison Blue, Alex Buchan, Xiuer Gu, Elias Marquez, Jiara Sha, Doo-sung Yoo, and Amy Youngs.

In a Hotter House exhibition curated by Doo-sung Yoo and Amy Youngs

Artists: Skylar Albright, Anna Arbogast, Marcia Armstrong, Madison Blue, Alex Buchan, Madalyn Bunjevac, Al Dilorenzo, John Cairns, Ben Chang, Megan Fabro, Andie Goodes, Taylor Green, Xiuer Gu, Brennan Jones, Olga Kisseleva and Lilia Chak, Eric Homan, Bethany Marple, Elias Marquez, Andrew Mehall, Caroline Mosholder, Zoe November, Ivan David Ng, Takahiro Okubo, Dev Patel, Noor Quadri, Bakhahang Rai, Mural Remix, Jonathan Riles, Ken Rinaldo, CG Ryan, Bella Saraceni, Lily Schumacher, Sabrina Sedlacko, Jiara Sha, Avery Stratman, Kaika Wakabayashi, Thomas Winningham, Andrew Wood, Uriah Wright, Doosung Yoo, Amy Youngs, Barry Yuan, and Danny Zhang.

Video: Jordan Sommerlad

Music: “Aurora”, by Anemoia. creative commons license cc by-nc-sa

Project support: The Ohio State University’s Humanities Institute, the Living Art and Ecology Lab of the Department of Art, the Biological Sciences Greenhouse, and the Department of Molecular Genetics.

April Workshops: Plant Dye Bandanas with Time for Change

| kline.434

April 2nd and April 3rd: Plant Dye Bandanas with Time for Change Week

 

Time for Change Week is an OSU Signature Event with the purpose of raising awareness for topics relating to sustainability on campus. The Living Art and Ecology Lab hosted two bandana dyeing workshops as part of this year’s festivities. During this event, students used resist techniques to dye bandanas with two historically significant dye plants: indigo and madder root. Enjoy some photos of the student work below!

Bandana reveals from the indigo vat

Madder root dye bath and a madder bandana over-dyed with indigo

Two madder bandanas: one treated with alum and acorn-based tannin solution; another with alum alone

 

Thank you to Time for Change organizers for including the LAE LAB in this years events!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April Workshops: Mycelium Sculpture with Visiting Artist Kate Klingbeil

up close look at inoculated sawdust
| kline.434

April 5th: Mycelium Sculpture with Visiting Artist Kate Klingbeil

crowd of students gathered for mycelium workshop with visiting artist Kate Klingbeil

We had a wonderful crowd in attendance for Kate Klingbeil’s visiting artist talk and sculpture workshop! OSU staff, students, faculty, and community members gathered in the print shop during this event to learn the practice of sculpting with mycelium. Klingbeil, whose work often focuses on celebrating the unseen realm of soil, was drawn to explore this medium for creation as a way of working in partnership with the more than human world. These pieces are a collaboration between the fungi and the sculptor to realize the final product.

 

image of a student mold sculpture; filled with inoculated substrate and shaped from cardboard and other waste stream materials

 

Sculpting with mycelium involves the creation of a mold that can be filled with substrate (sawdust, rice bran, etc) inoculated in fungal spawn. As the fungi grow, their mycelium spreads throughout the substrate to act as a ‘glue’, resulting in a form that will hold its shape once removed from the mold. Local waste stream materials– like takeout containers, empty bottles, and cardboard boxes– were provided to participants to make mold shapes. Substrates included soybean chaff, sawdust, hemp hurds, straw, and more. Examples of a student mold (left) and one created by the artist (right) can be seen above.

 

image of pots and pans in a sink, all full of sterilized substrate materials for using to build mycelium sculptures (eg, sawdust, straw, soybean chaff, etc)
Photo of the ‘Substrate Bar’ full of different materials for growing mycelium and filling our molds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Kate for sharing this innovative artistic technique and letting us be part of your fungal network! Anyone interested in organizing a similar workshop with Kate should reach out to her at kateklingbeil@gmail.com. Participant photos from the event can also be submitted to this google form.

 

We have many people to thank for the execution of this wonderful event. Thank you to Jessie Horning and the Print Studio for providing space for this event to occur. Thank you to Natasha Woods and the Graduate Student Art Club for arranging this visiting artist. Thank you to the Feminist Research, Education, and Engagement (FREE) Center  for providing additional funding for workshop materials.
Thank you to the following local partners for donating substrate materials for students to use in this workshop as well: The Cannabis Museum in Athens, Ohio (hemp hurds), Woodcraft on Bethel Road (sawdust), and the McHale Soybean Breeding Program on Waterman Farm (soybean chaff).

In A Hotter House: Art Exhibition in the Biological Sciences Greenhouse

| kline.434

flyer for the art show "in a hotter house". This show opens April 22nd, 2024 from 8:00pm to 10:00pm in the biological sciences greenhouse at Ohio State university

April 22nd, 2024 from 8:00pm to 10:00pm

Biological Sciences Greenhouse, 332 W. 12th Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43210. Directions.

In an age of rapidly changing climate, the greenhouse is not the only hothouse of our own making. The artists of this exhibition are united by the question, what solutions to our warming climate may we learn from paying attention to plants?

Not sure how to get to the greenhouse? The Lichen Likers will be leading a group from Hopkins Hall to the Greenhouse as part of a participatory pre-show performance titled Fungal Entanglement: A Lichen Journey. Arrive on the steps of Hopkins Hall at 7pm for a meandering walk that will lead you to the show.

Spring 2024 Art Exhibition: In A Hotter House

| kline.434

In A Hotter House

An Earth Day art exhibition in a greenhouse on top of a parking garage.

The Biological Sciences Greenhouse mimics the warming effects of the Earth’s atmosphere to nurture a cornucopia of plant diversity and botanical research. On April 22nd from 8:00-10:00pm, it will also serve as a cultural hotbed to present an exhibition of phytophilic (plant-loving) art. This venue is uniquely situated atop a central parking garage on Ohio State University’s campus, carbon dioxide from the exhaust of humans and cars below drifting upwards to the plants who transform it into oxygen.

The Department of Art’s Living Art & Ecology Lab, partnered with resident artist Doosung Yoo, the Lichen Likers research group, eleven invited local artists, and this semester’s Art & Science course (co-taught by faculty members Amy Youngs and Iris Meier) cordially invite you to experience their artistic creations at this plant-human meeting ground. In an age of rapidly changing climate, the greenhouse is not the only hothouse of our own making. The artists of this exhibition* are united by the question, what solutions to our warming climate may we learn from paying attention to plants?

Address: Biological Sciences Greenhouse, 332 W. 12th Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43210. Directions.

Time for Change Week 2024: DIY Bandanas with Plant Dyes

| kline.434

DIY Bandanas with Plant Dyes Hosted by The Living Art and Ecology Lab April 2nd, 2024 2:00pm-4:00pm April 3rd, 2024 2:00pm-4:00pm Hopkins Hall Room 480 To register, please visit https://tinyurl.com/33ex53ct Time for Change Event

Learn more about the world of plant-based color through this hands-on workshop! Join us in Hopkins Hall Room 480 on Tuesday, April 2nd or Wednesday, April 3rd from 2:00-4:00pm. Come dye your own bandanas using plant-based dyes such as indigo and madder root, creating unique patterns via resist dyeing techniques. Throughout the crafting process we will also discuss the rich history of natural dyes and how humans have been working with plant colors for millennia. Open to OSU students only. Registration required. To sign up, click here.

This event is part of Time for Change Week 2024, an OSU Signature Event Series. For more information on the rest of this week’s events, please visit the official T4C website.

Note: Participants are encouraged to wear clothes and shoes that they are ok with getting dirty as dyes can stain clothes.

Kate Klingbeil: Mycelium Sculpture Workshop and Artist Talk

| kline.434

MYCELIUM SCULPTURE WORKSHOP & ARTIST TALK with KATE KLINGBEIL Build your own mycelium-based sculpture using found/recycled materials and local waste. Kate Klingbeil (b. 1990) is a visual artist predominately work- ing with painting, sculpture, video, and most recently, fungi. Through highlighting the connections between our psyches and Earth’s subterranean landscapes, Kate’s work builds on the foundation of the root systems and fungal networks that hold us together. She has recieved residency awards from Silver Art Projects, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Marble House Projects, The Arts/Industries program at John Michael Kohler Art Center, Yaddo, and ACRE. She has presented solo exhibitions with Steve Turner, Los An- geles. Hesse Flatow and at SPRING/BREAK, New York with Field Projects. Kate received a BFA in Printmaking from California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA in 2012. She currently resides in Milwaukee, WI, and is represented by Steve Turner in Los Angeles, CA. Presented by the Graduate Student Art Club, The Living Art Eco Lab & The Ohio State Center for Feminist Research, Education and Engagement (FREE Center) Friday, April 5th, 2024 4-7 pm Hopkins Hall Room 266 Print Shop Limited Capacity Please RSVP & direct questions to woods.986

Join Visiting Artist Kate Klingbeil in the Hopkins Hall Print Shop (Room 266) on April 5th, 2024 4:00-7:00pm to make your own sculpture using fungal mycelium and up-cycled materials! Please see the above flyer for more details, and RSVP to woods.986@osu.edu to attend (seats are limited). More information on the artist’s work can be found here or on her Instagram @k8klingbeil.

This event is made possible through the Graduate Student Art Club, the Living Art and Ecology Lab, and generous funding from The Ohio State Center for Feminist Research, Education, and Engagement (FREE Center).

Spring Phenology Walk Series

| kline.434

Have you ever found yourself waiting impatiently for spring, only to look up and realize that it’s suddenly summer? If so, this walk series may be for you! Starting Thursday, February 29th, join the Living Art and Ecology Lab for afternoon walks along the Olentangy River Trail to notice and appreciate signs of spring. Sights of interest may include a range of seasonal wildflowers, migrating bird species, and various other fungi, flora and fauna. Walking groups will meet on the steps outside of Hopkins Hall at 11:45am and take the bus together to the St. John’s Arena stop, which is located adjacent to the Olentangy River Trail. From there we will have a free-form exploration of the trail with the goal of returning to the bus stop by 1:00pm. The main path of the Olentangy trail is flat and well-paved with unpaved side trails that we may explore depending on group interests and abilities. A limited number of binoculars will be available for participant use. To join us on one of these walks, please submit your interests to the sign-up links below:
Sign up forms for additional dates will be posted as the semester progresses. Any questions about this event series can be directed to the Living Art and Ecology Lab Coordinator Emma Kline at kline.434@osu.edu.

Introducing Artist-in-Residence Doo-Sung Yoo

| kline.434

Meet the Artist 

This past semester the Living Art and Ecology Lab welcomed its first artist in residence, Doo–Sung Yoo. Doo–Sung is a Korean new media artist and a lecturer here at Ohio State University. His work focuses on the interface between the living and non-living aspects of our world. As he describes in the artist statement on his website,

“I create environments in which living entities and biological materials, including the human body, are combined with technological systems. In these environments, my hybrid sculptural and interactive entities mediate the confluence between triangular oppositions of human-animal-technological nature, and blur their boundaries. My artwork is based on those intersections between natural and unnatural technology. I explore aesthetic possibilities of ‘interspecies’ and ‘interanimation’ through human relationships with non-human others within my artistic forms.”

Artist-in-Residence Doo-Sung Yoo in the field, photographing lichen on a tombstone

Doo–Sung’s previous works have been exhibited, reviewed, and published in spaces such as Posthumanism in Art and Science: A Reader (USA), Life After Literature: Perspectives on Biopoetics in Literature and Theory (Switzerland), Tierstudien (Germany), Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture (England), Art and Speculative Futures International Conference 2016 (Spain), Bodies on Stage: Acting Confronted by Technology 2015 (France), Wi: Journal of Mobile Culture (Canada), Intertekst (Poland), and Evolution Haute Couture: Art and Science in the Post-Biological Age (Russia).

Residency Activities

During his residency with the Living Art and Ecology Lab, Doo–Sung has been working alongside OSU Art and Tech faculty Amy Youngs and undergraduate research interns Anna Arbogast, Nathan Tyler, Elias Marquez, Xiuer Gu, and Madison Blue to investigate the lives of lichen. Collectively, this group refers to themselves as the Lichen Likers. Projects and events from this group so far include a ‘lichen garden’ outside of Hopkins Hall, a guest lecture from emeritus professor Robert Klips on lichen natural history, and a virtual reality project to create larger than life models of lichen from 3D specimen scans, among many others.

Doo-Sung standing under an augmented reality model of a lichen specimen. This model was made by the Lichen Likers group as a part of their fall research activities.

Lichen Likers will continue to host workshops moving forward, providing space for our human art communities to observe and learn from lichens. They will lead creative activities centered around these symbiotic organisms, with the goal of conceptualizing better ways for including non-human beings in our making practices. Stay tuned to hear more from this group as they continue to embrace the more-than-human world in their craft. A new group of interns will join this project in spring semester, as Doo–Sung’s residency continues through the end of this academic year.

Thanks for reading, and welcome to the lab Doo–Sung!