Ruins
August 23rd through December 2024
Environmental Natural Resource 2 (ENR2) at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Installed with support from the Arizona Institute for Resilience.
Ruins is a sculpture created in collaboration with mycelial networks. Mycelial hyphae form tight webs that bind materials together as the enzymes they secrete start to decompose the substrate they live within. Utilizing this natural process to create Ruins, living material was grown into standardized block forms and removed when it suited the needs of the project. However, the mycelium behaved in unexpected ways, continuing to thrive even after the bricks were removed to dry, developing striking colors across the surfaces, and sprouting fruiting bodies.
Through both process and shape, Ruins demonstrates the interactions between human and non-human entities. The sculpture echoes the remains of human-built structures; yet the bricks themselves are created through a highly complex natural process. Each block consists of tightly woven mycelial hyphae which grow by branching out in an endless pursuit of expansion.
Entangled in almost every ecosystem on earth, mycelium holds soils together, forms symbiotic relationships with plants, and accelerates decay while making space for life to emerge. In contrast to humans who have created stark separations between ourselves and the natural world, mycelium evolved reciprocal relationships with other organisms. Many plants rely on the nutrients provided by mycelium, and vice versa. Intertwined, they form a life raft that increases their collective chance of survival.
After its display in the ENR2 courtyard, Ruins will be installed permanently at The Land With No Name, an outdoor desert sculpture sanctuary west of Tucson. Over time, the structure will invite both new growth and decay as the material begins the decompose. The evolving sculpture illuminates how natural organisms will evade restraint for as long as we continue to attempt to restrain them.
Photos by Alexis Joy Hagestad and Claire Fall Blanchette