Mushrooms And Art In The City

Workshop participants at last year's festival.

With a venue in a city park, a festival has been happening for the past three years. It features art, as well as a lecture/workshop series, and it's all about the mushroom. The MUSHROOM CITY ART FESTIVAL (MCAF), has found a new home at Leakin Park in Baltimore, after its start at Baltimore Free Farm.

A particular interest of the festival has been in exploring the role of mushrooms in repairing environmental damage. Scientific research has been demonstrating that certain types of mushrooms can eat up oil and plastics, other types can help fix irradiated soils, and still others represent nonchemical ways of controlling destructive insects.



Each year the Festival's lectures and workshops present new information about mushroom cultivation, mycoremediation (the repair work that mushrooms perform), and psilocybin research. Through these educational experiences, and the accompanying art festival, Robin Gunkel, who started this project, has been out to spread her enthusiasm about mycology and encourage other city dwellers to grow their own mushrooms.

Ms. Gunkel explained, "I think Baltimore could benefit hugely from the development of a radical mycological community. Baltimore is a city that's in a process of both decay and new growth. Mushrooms embody this space as well - breaking down organic materials on the molecular level to usher forth new life." That's type of decay and regeneration has taken place for a number of years, from the development of the tourist attractions of the Inner Harbor, to the gentrification of downtown Baltimore, to some of the decayed inner city neighborhoods, to an effort to build affordable senior housing by local church groups, to the newest planned development by Kevin Plank and Under Armour. The city grows, decays, evolves, and grows again.

Immersive Sound Bath structure that went on tour after the festival.

The Mushroom City Arts Festival is being held this year on October 22nd. Artistic works will be displayed along one of the nature trails, in essence, creating a nature art trail. All submitted art works generally take as their themes some form associated with the mycological life cycle. In some cases, the appearance of certain art works at the festival is part of their tour to other sites around the country. So, if you're in the Baltimore area in mid-October, you might want to see this combination festival at Leakin Park.

Fafu Pfafflin and Robert Michael Danyo perform.

Thanks for information from this article on Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/robin-gunkel-mushroom-city-art-festival/; the Festival's home page, and the above link.

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