Fungi Forms

2 August to 8 December, 2024

Through the lens of a variety of artists and mediums explore how fungi have inspired artworks and enthralled artists.



The exhbition consists of artworks from a variety of artists and makers including Stella McCartney, Simon Faithfull, Hannah Read, Alexander Viazmensky, Willoughby Arevalo, Isabelle Kirouac, Amanda Cobbett, Iris Van Herpen, Julie Beeler, and Sion Parkinson.

From heads growing fungi, to beautiful botanic art, embroidered samples of mushrooms, detailed photography, and mushroom leather substitutes, there is something for everyone to explore.

Exhibition Layout:

Room 1:

Entering the first room in Fungi Forms you are welcomed by a wall of photographs showcasing just a few of the essential species that support life in the Botanics, alongside artworks inspired the by the effects that fungi have on the cycles of life. Our bodies are habitats for many organisms. Working in partnership with Edinburgh-based community mushroom farm Rhyze, Simon Faithfull has turned himself into a habitat for fungi. In his Biotopes series, he has made 3D prints of his own head and impregnated them with mycelia. These have grown during Fungi Forms to produce a variety of oyster mushrooms, which grow out of the head’s mouth and nose like mycological speech bubbles.



Hannah Read is an Edinburgh-born musician and composer. The Fungi Sessions Vol. 1 is a suite of songs inspired by fungi and dedicated to the memory of her father, Nick Read, a pioneering fungal cell biologist at the University of Edinburgh. Hannah’s song Silverphae is paired alongside a microscopic time-lapse video of a stinkhorn mycelium made in collaboration with mycologist Dr. Patrick Hickey.

Exploring her fascination with fungi, Jo Coupe presents Infester, bronze casts of edible beech mushrooms that typically grow on trees. They emerge from the walls here and elsewhere in the exhibition, a reminder that fungi are all around us.



Room 2:

The second room in Fungi Forms is ‘Food and Drink’. Without fungi we would have little to eat or drink. No rice, corn, potatoes, bread, pasta, tea, coffee, beer or wine... without fungi there would be hardly any soil and without fungal partners the plants we consume, or feed to livestock, could not survive.



Edible fungi are celebrated by artists across the globe for their forms, flavours and scents. In this room, you will find work by the botanical artist Alexander Viazmensky who has spent decades foraging for fungi in the woods. A key element of Viazmensky’s images is the apparent debris. This relates to where the specimen was found and evokes the biological concept of mutualism, the beneficial interaction between species.

British textile artist Amanda Cobbett has also worked extensively with fungi. Scouring forest floors, she photographs and collects mushrooms. Amanda then creates exquisite, embroidered sculptures of mushrooms and toadstools using an intricate process involving the layering of thread.

Bringing sensory fun to the exhibition is the Art & Fungi Project, aka American artists Willoughby Arévalo and Isabelle Kirouac. Scent is a clue in the identification of mushrooms, so their graphic ‘Aromatic Wheel of Fungi’ display asks visitors to apply the sniff test to a variety of specimens. What memories do these smells trigger? What words describe them? This work is ever expanding.



Room 3:

The third room of Fungi Forms explores Fashion. Today the fashion industry is experimenting with mycelium to develop sustainable and cruelty-free alternatives to traditional materials, particularly leather. Fashion designer Stella McCartney has long placed environmental concerns and animal welfare at the heart of her business. Her bustier and trousers are made from Mylo™, a form of ‘unleather’ produced from mycelia. Grown in just two weeks in a vertical farming facility powered by renewable energy, it matches leather’s drape, texture and weight almost exactly.



For her spring/summer 2022 launch, McCartney collaborated with eminent mycologist Paul Stamets and biologist Merlin Sheldrake, author of ‘Entangled Life’. The fungi-inspired collection included a limited-edition handbag made from Mylo™.

Exhibition Programme:

Don’t miss this tour which will feature an exhibition-first activation of Willoughby Arévalo & Isabelle Kirouac’s ‘Aromatic Wheel of Fungi’, inviting participants to use their sense of smell to explore the sensory properties of mushrooms. The tour will be led by audio describer John Cummings and followed by a creative workshop inspired by the exhibition led by the artist Simon Faithfull, whose work Biotopes features in Fungi Forms.

November 12, 10:00-12:15 at the John Hope Gateway



Enjoy a series of spotlight talks led by our wonderful Creative Programmes volunteers and immerse yourself further into the world of fungi.



Saturday 16 November, 14:30 – 15:00

Friday 22 November, 11:30 – 12:00

Thursday 5 December, 13:30 – 14:00

Saturday 7 December, 13:30 – 14:00



Guided by a member of the Botanics' Creative Programmes team, enter the fascinating world of fungi and learn about the multiple forms it takes both in life and in art. Through music, literature, fashion, design, scent and visual art, Fungi Forms will take you on a spectacular journey, exploring fungi in science, culture and innovation. At the end of the tour, discuss what you have learnt over a cosy cup of mushroom tea!

Sunday 1 December, 14.30 - 15.30

Descriptive tour and workshop: Fungi Forms

The tour will be led by audio describer John Cummings and followed by a creative workshop inspired by the exhibition. The workshop will be led by the artist Simon Faithfull, whose work Biotopes features in Fungi Forms.

Tuesday 12 November, 10:00 – 12:15
What's On

Exhibition Layout

Exhibition Programme