Daniel Linehan

Iris

In his solo “Iris”, Linehan considers how movement and words can be a form of magic, a way to cast new spells. His dance and his poetry aim to give voice to the invisible connections that join us together with our fellow living beings near and far – the plants and the birds, the insects and mushrooms, the sky and the living Earth. In ancient Greek mythology, Iris was the goddess of the rainbow and a messenger of hope. Linehan sees hope in the process of learning to see our inherent relatedness with the colorful spectrum of planetary life that we are a part of.

To register click here: https://www.billetweb.fr/curieucity-forest

Amandine Kervyn in collaboration with Joske Ruytinx

Mycorrhizal fungi artwork | The impact of fungi on plants in stress conditions

Dive into the world of mycorrhizal fungi with this specially designed leaflet. This informative guide will help you uncover the essential role these fungi play in our ecosystem. Learn about how mycorrhizal fungi attach to host plants and explore their profound impact on plants, especially under stress conditions. This leaflet is part of the “Recherche en Perspective” project by Ohme, which bridges the gap between science and visual communication. Since 2018, Ohme partners with La Cambre Arts Visuels and Université libre de Bruxelles to make complex scientific research accessible and visually engaging.

Marjolijn Dijkman, Toril Johannessen 

Reclaiming Vision

Captured through a light microscope, ‘Reclaiming Vision’ features a diverse cast of microorganisms, sampled from the brackish waters of the inner Oslo Fjord, alongside algae, cultivated at the University of Oslo. The film reveals various processes in the water that are hidden from the naked human eye. By investigating the brackish water, its inhabitants, its properties, and the traces left by human activities, the film is a reflection upon the relationship we humans have with our surroundings, especially through what we cannot see.

Credits:

Reclaiming Vision Directed by: Marjolijn Dijkman & Toril Johannessen  Music by: Henry Vega  Edited by: Dieter Diependaele  Scientific Consultants: Bente Edvardsen, Jan Heuschele, Jack Christopher Leo, Luka Supraha  Filming location: Microscopy lab, Section for Aquatic Biology and Toxicology, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Norway Commissioned by: Munchmuseet on the Move, The Munch Museum – Oslo, Norway
Reclaiming Vision: 26:37 Formats: Stereo – HD (H.264, Prores 422HQ, DCP)
Featuring (In alphabetical order): Acartia sp., Alexandrium ostenfeldii, Alexandrium tamarense, Ceratium furca, Ceratium tripos, Chaetoceros decipiens, Cirripedia larva, Coscinodiscus sp., Crustaceans, Dictyocha speculum, Dinophysis norvegica, Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3), Euglena sp., Eutreptiella braarudii, Green algae, Insect larva, Melosira sp., Nematodes, Nitzschia sp., Oithona sp., Proboscia alata, Protoceratium sp., Protoperidinium sp.,Prymnesium parvum, Pseudocalanus sp., Rhizosolenia hebetata, Rhodomonas salina, Rotifera, Scenedesmus sp., Skeletonema costatum, Temora sp., Thalassionema nitzschioides, Tigriopus sp.

Sara Manente/ Sébastien Tripod/ Deborah Robbiano

Textile work from “Towards a Ruined Theater” (part of Fungi Expo)

The ‘Towards a Ruined Theater’ installation is the fruit of a unique collaboration between human, fungal and artificial intelligence. Sara Manente (choreographer and researcher), Sébastien Tripod (architect), and Deborah Robbiano (graphic and floral designer) together explore the idea of fertile ruins, where the theatre is transformed into living compost. Through images printed on textile, the installation evokes a space in perpetual transformation, where the creative process and decomposition become the essential elements of creation.

Visitors are invited to discover this theatre in the making, where fungi and mould play a central role, contributing to a reflection on the ephemeral and regenerative nature of art and architecture. This installation embodies the idea that nothing is stable, but that everything is constantly decomposing and regrowing, transforming the theatrical space into a living organism.

Sara Manente

Fungi Expo: Muffa Bar

If we could talk with fungi, which voice would they use? Where would we hang out?

The realm of fungi challenges our conventional notions of individuality, intelligence, collaboration, immunity, and sensoriality. While it is being extensively studied for its innovative applications and for its therapeutic properties, there remains a vast terrain awaiting exploration. Embracing once more the concept of ‘mushrooming’ as a methodology, we will immerse in the fungal imagery working in collaboration with microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms.

Marion Neumann

The Mushroom Speaks

What if the fungus could help us address and radically change our relationship to this world?
CurieuCity wraps up the fungi night with a screening of the documentary The Mushroom Speaks. The film explores the healing qualities of fungi and their ability to regenerate. This personal journey takes on a walk alongside parasites, symbionts and decomposers offering ideas of both interconnectedness and collaboration. Driven by a vision of resistance, the encounters seek possibilities of renewal and question what connects us when the world seems to be falling apart. With mushrooms and their allies the film invites to imagine a myco-cultural (r)evolution.

To register click here: https://www.billetweb.fr/curieucity-forest

Credits:

With: Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Franz Xaver Vollenweider, Peter McCoy, Geoffroy Renaud, Ursula Weiher, Vanja Palmers, Frida Krieger
Direction & Image: Marion Neumann
Sound Design & Music: Olga Kokcharova
Editing: Marion Neumann, Orsola Valenti
Sound Editing & Mix: Adrien Kessler
Image Postproduction Studio: Studio Rougegorge, Robin Erard
Camera Assistant: David Huwiler
Graphic Design: Thomas Perrodin
Website: Jeff Gaudinet, Raphaël Arbuz

Production: Intermezzo Films SA, Katia Monla & Luc Peter
Production Assistant: Aurélie Oliveira Pernet, Stéphanie Severino
Administration: Karla Kolder
Accounting: Annick Kammacher

ANAGRAM ASBL

Fungi Night / Anagram – Culinary Performance

Immerse yourself in a sensory journey where art and ecology come together around a table. For Fungi Night, Anagram invites you to a one-of-a-kind performance dinner, where every bite connects you to the artists’ works and the secrets of mycelium. A rare and intense moment, to be savoured without moderation.

Anagram, the Brussels-based association that reinvents environmental awareness through contemporary art, is offering you an exceptional opportunity to share in the experience. During this dinner, the creations of the artists present are transformed into an immersive culinary experience, inviting each guest to explore the subtle links between nature, art and gastronomy.

Practical information:

Registration required (places limited).
Participation free of charge.

Join us for an evening where flavours, ideas and emotions weave together like the threads of a mycelium.

To register click here: https://www.billetweb.fr/curieucity-forest

Joske Ruytinx (VUB), Theresa Spielmann,SpecXCraft (ULB), Sara Manente, Britt Bakker

Fungi Talks

Join us for a stimulating debate with experts and artists as they introduce the world of fungi and speculative crafting as well as react to the fungi expo and explore the fascinating links between science, art and nature.

Speakers include Joske Ruytinx, Britt Bakker, Rafaella Houlstan-Hasaerts, Giulietta Laki  and Sara Manente, each bringing a unique perspective on the role of fungi in our ecosystem and in our creative imaginations. What if fungi could help us radically change our relationship with the world?

About the panellists:

Joske Ruytinx is a professor bio-engineering sciences at VUB.  With her research team, she is studying fungal biodiversity and the role of microorganisms in enhancing plant resilience. She is particularly interested in mycorrhizal fungi. Joske completed her PhD at Hasselt University and a postdoc as an Agreenskills Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow at INRAe Nancy, France. Joske has also been a visiting scientist at Montana State University, USA before settling in Brussels.

Britt Bakker is an actress, creator, and writer with a passion for microbiology. She works on mycological water purification projects, produces natural cider under the name “Anargist,” and collaborates with institutions such as VUB and VLIZ. Alongside Karolien de Bleser, she is developing a theater piece centered on microscopic organisms, and she is writing Microbial Memoirs at De Letteristen. Combining science and fiction, she delves into the origins of life and our earliest ancestors—bacteria.

Rafaella Houlstan-Hasaerts (architect) and Giulietta Laki (anthropologist) are co-founders of the action-research group Urban Species. Together with Natagora, Constant vzw & CVB they carried out specXcraft, a collaborative research project (funded by Innoviris/cocreate). Drawing on their respective practices and struggles for environmental- , social-, technological- and epistemological in/justice, they speculatively explored more situated, relevant and collective ways of imagining the future of Brussels.

Before moving to Brussels, where she works as an artist and researcher, Sara Manente studied dance and semiotics (University of Bologna, Madrid, and Antwerp). She has been part of a.pass since 2008, as participant in the postmaster programme and Research Center as well as curator and dedicated mentor. She’s been teaching at KASK, ISAC, ZUYD, DOCH and EXERCE. In 2021, she was artist in residence at Wiels. Her work is being supported by the Flemish Authorities and presented in Europe, South Corea and Brasil. In the last years, her projects explore the intersection of living cultures, fungi, and performing arts, using different formats to reflect on the contagion between pedagogy, research, performance, and publication. Drawing from the research project Wicked technology/Wild fermentation, she produced MOLD, a choreographic and sculptural work and ROT magazines and ROT Gardens, as editor and curator. Together with Sébastien Tripod and Deborah Robbiano, she realized RUINED, and TOWARDS A RUINED THEATER, a mycological building and degrading process that iterates in different architectures (EPFL Lausanne, Far Nyon, Nadine Brussels, kunstmuseum Bochum, VUB Pilar Brussels).

About the moderator:

The debate will be moderated by Theresa Spielmann, a doctoral student at the University of Antwerp and member of the ‘Performing Ends’ research project funded by the FWO (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek). Originally from Germany, they earned an MPhil in Theatre Studies from the University of Warwick. Previously, Theresa studied Theatre at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and worked as a theatre maker with the collective Büro Grandezza. They co-directed The 2051 Munich Climate Conference and edited its publication on climate change visions. Their background in both research and theatre informs their interdisciplinary doctoral work.

To register click here: https://www.billetweb.fr/curieucity-forest

Yami Moreno & David Ferreira

Symbiotic Veil

“Because plants cannot run away from problems or toward opportunities (except as seeds), survival often requires collaboration.” – Frederick R. Adler and Peter B. Adler

Symbiotic Veil is an intimate installation that visualizes the Wood Wide Web, a concept developed by biologist Suzanne Simard. Presented within a terrarium, the work models the mycorrhizal network that enables plants to communicate and share resources. Inspired by forest ecosystems, it uses artificial intelligence to reveal these complex exchanges.

Building on the theories of artificial neural networks applied to mycelial systems, Symbiotic Veil explores the invisible interactions between plants. In this work, mutualism unfolds as a silent choreography, where each mycelial filament orchestrates a symphony of vital exchanges, illustrating the interdependence in nature. This installation demonstrates how AI can decode the mysteries of biodiversity and deepen our understanding of the environment.

LONEUX Michèle - MuZoo - Inforsciences ULB

Classifications & Kinship

During this activity, participants will be invited to explore the urban fauna of Brussels, based on examples of familiar animals observed in the city’s streets, houses, parks, gardens and lakes. This exploration will introduce them to the concepts of classification and phylogenetic relationships.

The activity will begin with the recognition of animals that participants have probably already come across in Brussels, such as birds, mammals, amphibians and arthropods. Participants will be asked to compare these animals, highlighting their similarities and differences. This comparison will make it possible to classify them into coherent groups, thus revealing their family relationships.

What is phylogeny?

Phylogeny is the study of the evolution of species and their relationships. In this workshop, it is used to construct a phylogenetic tree.
Participants will build one by illustrating the relationships between the different species observed. The aim of this activity is to raise participants’ awareness of the biological diversity present in the urban environment and to introduce them to the basic principles of the scientific classification of living things.

Workshop lasts 30 min (max 10people) and takes place from 10:30-13:00 and 14:00-17:00