Artist Talk by Ali Matthews and Work-in-Progress Sharing of Mushroom Language: A Fungal Gothic

Join multidisciplinary artist Ali Matthews for an artist talk about the creative process behind Mushroom Language: A Fungal Gothic, a show about the cycles that shape us - eruption, reproduction and decay. The show, which premieres at The Lowry (Salford) in October, role-plays the lichen love stories, spore shoot-outs and truffle siren songs found in our forests in an eerie homage to folk horror. In the talk, Ali will open up the ways in which she worked with a variety of artistic collaborators and mushroom experts - foragers, mycoforestry activists, urban farmers and research mycologists - to learn 'mushroom language' and translate it into text, music, design & movement. This is a talk for anyone with an interest in (radical) mycology, forestry, or ecology more generally, as well as those with an interest in interdisciplinary art practice and how shows get made!

After the talk, Ali will be joined by collaborator (co-devisor and co-performer) Tom Halls for a work-in-progress sharing of some Mushroom Language excerpts.