We live among the vast and relatively unknown Kingdom of Fungi. Mycelial networks have been likened to social and communications networks. What do we have in common with mushrooms? What can we learn from them? Fungi communicate, remediate, and decompose. They are used as food, medicine, spiritual guides, and material building blocks. Some are crucial to the soil food web; others will kill you. Fungi are closer to Animalia than to Plantae, and only 5% of the Fungi have been classified. Students will explore fungi through reading, research, writing and interacting with fungi, and making one case study and one project that explores the physical and conceptual material covered in class. Readings that span the biological, theoretical, social and creative will include Paul Stamets, Dale Pendell, Anna Tsing, and Gilles Deleuze. Students are asked to utilize “technologies” in the creation of projects, which might include digital media, cooking, mycotecture, or working with existent fungal communities.

Marina Zurkow