Bianca Tainsh Residency Blog 2

The new body of work that will emerge through my Metro Arts residency is an evolution and revolution from ‘Intimate Organisms’. Intimate Organisms was a first representation of my ongoing enquiry into the subterranean fungal networks that connect all organisms in an ecosystem through resource trading and communications through electric impulses passed along mycelial threads. Considering humanity’s current disconnect from nature, I see the potential of these fungal networks to be our portal for communing with the more-than-human world.

My first step was to collaborate with a mycologist to learn how to propagate mycorrhizal fungi and this is how Myc-a, the centrepiece for Intimate Organisms, emerged. Myc-a is what I have termed a ‘terra-biome’ – a symbiotic body of flora and microfauna connected by underground networks of mycorrhizal fungi. Terra-biomes are collectives that practice a methodology based on mutualism and perpetuity.  This ancient culture of interspecies reciprocity offers a compelling vision for escaping the disastrous trajectory of the Anthropocene.

All the organisms and organics that make up Myc-a were respectfully collected from my family’s nature refuge on Lake Weyba, Kabi Kabi Country. Myc-a contains knowledge of that land and the natural and human histories that are layered throughout its timescape.

Around Myc-a, I created a series of works that project the micro world that is Myc-a’s biome, and presented ideas about the interconnected whole and the actuality of the human as a multi-species biome.

One year ago, a Ritual for Entanglement inundated Outer Space’s gallery in Brisbane with voice and synth to spark a process of sonic symbiosis to bring Myc-a into being. Performers and audience came together to activate the terra-biome’s mycelial growth, connecting humans to Myc-a and each other, and forging the symbiotic network of the terra-biome.

As a long-term enquiry this is an evolving conversation between art, science, and living organisms. It invites us to engage with nature not as an external resource, but as a dynamic intelligence entangled with our own existence.

BTW – You can visit Myc-a at The Edge, the State Library of Queensland’s tech hub. They will be installed there until 23rd May 2025. Follow my instagram bianca.tainsh for updates on an event where my collaborators from the University of Queensland will take recordings of Myc-a’s electrical communications and share their individual research projects around this fungal phenomena.

Have a perspective you want to contribute, or thoughts regarding Bianca’s practice? Email contact@biancatainsh.com to join the conversation

Image acknowledgements

• Organic Intimacy. Image by Bianca Tainsh.
• Photograph of Myc-a by Bianca Tainsh.
• Installation view Outer Space. Photograph by Louis Lim.
• Intimate Organisms opening performance. Photograph by Louis Lim.