FUNGI: Anarchist Designers
In his manifesto, fungal natural historian Toshimitsu Fukiharu traces the earliest origins of collaborative partnerships in forests.
At some point in the evolutionary process, the ancestors of fungi, plants and animals diverged and then reconnected. Drawing on his expertise in fungi that digest animal faeces, Fukiharu describes how most species seem to coexist peacefully and treat the entire forest as one organism. In the forest, he explains, all species are born, live their lives and die. They consume no more than they need, nourishing themselves with the remains of other species or their faeces and maintaining a continuous equilibrium. The exception to this rule is humans, who must learn not to deplete the forest.
“ Created by fungi and plants, the forest became a place where animals are born, grow and die. It became the stage on which all life phases unfold. Ammonia moulds, coprophilous fungi and Hebeloma radicosum are just some of the components of this complex system. People still know so little about forests. But if we ask the forest our questions, it will answer – at the level that we are willing to understand. ”
Toshimitsu Fukiharu
Toshimitsu Fukiharu is a mycologist who studies the natural history of mushrooms, with a particular focus on ammonia fungi that grow on decaying organic matter. He is the editor and author of Mushroom Botanical Art, a book showcasing 18th- and 19th-century illustrations of mushrooms and fungi.
Other manifestos
Throughout FUNGI: Anarchist Designers, the case for an alternative worldview emerges. Rather than striving for control, humans should take inspiration from the cross-species, more-than-human alliances that fungi exemplify. In their manifestos, the experts invited by curators Anna Tsing and Feifei Zhou explore this shift in mentality. You can download all of the manifestos in full via the collection page on this website.