The mycelia are alive with the sound of music, says West Cork man Michael Prime, a sound artist who has collaborated with plants and fungi for over 20 years.
Michael, who is also the director of Comillane Gardens and The Fernery in Skibbereen, has the distinction of being the only artist in this field who amplifies the bioelectric voltages produced by the plants and fungi themselves, rather than just injecting a signal through them.
After regaling an international audience with his talents, listeners in Cork will now have the unique opportunity to hear music made by living fungi, in collaboration with the musician himself.
Earlier, this year, Michael Allen Z Primer, to give him his full artistic title, was a participant in SOIL, a major exhibition at Somerset House in London.
He is bringing his work to an exhibition space in Cork, where the sounds will be accessible to any and all who are interested in the fascinating world of fungi.
‘We can listen to their equivalent of a nervous system, as they react to changes in their environment,’ Michael told The Southern Star ahead of next Sunday’s Cork gig, to be hosted in at the Dali venue at 8 Lavitt’s Quay in Cork city.
Michael’s work sounds radically different to any other plant or mushroom music, because the electrical activity of plants and fungi is inherently noisy and unpredictable.
He has presented his plant and fungal sound installations at numerous venues such as the Mendel Museum in the Czech Republic, the NTT InterCommunication Centre in Tokyo, and the Halles de Schaarbeek in Brussels.
It was in 2019 that his bioelectrical performance at the Open Ear Festival on Sherkin Island helped to introduce his work to a techno audience.
In 2023, he presented an overview of his films and music in surround sound at UNAM, Mexico City and at the SOIL exhibition in London, he worked in collaboration with micro photographer Wim van Egmonds.
The ‘mushroom music’ will be presented at the Dali venue at 8 Lavitt’s Quay in Cork, at 8pm on Sunday night, June 22nd.
