Commissioned by Slush, an annual startup incubation event in Helsinki, for their 2024 edition themed Metamorphosis, Incubator (BETA) v1.0 is a living installation composed of four interconnected elements: a custom-built incubator, a humidifier box, an interactive control unit, and a background video. The work explores how fungi react to changes in their environment. The installation offers the audience a direct way to influence the living conditions of fungi within a closed growth system.
The piece is a responsive fungal sculpture – an evolving form shaped by environmental inputs controlled by the viewer. Over the course of the two-day event, the fruiting bodies of Oyster mushrooms were carefully timed to emerge from the tips of a repeating form, enabling the artwork to visibly transform in real-time.
The sculpture was assembled from over 80 individual mycelium components, grown from two fungal species – Reishi and Oyster – using custom molds made from old plastic bottles. The mycelium components were mounted onto a welded metal structure designed around natural geometric patterns inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and phyllotaxis (the spiral arrangement of leaves in plants).
Materials: Aluminium profiles, plexiglass, electronics, plywood, metal, silicone tubes, fittings, mycelium/fungi (Reishi & Oyster), paint, video
Collaborators: Santtu Teerihalme – mechatronics, Miikka Kaila – video editing, Dennis Konoi – timelapse photography.
Mycelium provided by Kääpä Biotech and Helsieni.
Special thanks to Tania Malréchauffé, Harvey Shaw, Falera van Balen, Markus Koistinien, Ron Repo, Sushant Passi, Sun Effects, and Slush Art Director Karoliina Pärnänen for trusting us.