SEMINAR – Underground Lovers

Underground Lovers – Fostering Fungal Networks of the Subterrain

Alison will be presenting this talk as part of the Sensing Fungi: Invisible Agencies and the Underground Conference run by the Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften, Kunstuniversität Linz in Wien.

The earth’s changing climate and environmental challenges have come sharply into focus through the demise of charismatic megafauna and the ‘biodiversity crisis’.

But what about stinkhorns and slime moulds?

Fungi underpin terrestrial ecosystems, forming cross-kingdom collaborations with countless creatures and intimately entwining with plants. As vital pioneers, fungi are especially important in disturbed environments, kickstarting colonisation and recovery, yet are largely absent in biodiversity protocols and ‘management’ worldwide.

Fungi also wobble the assumptions and frameworks that we use to understand life, offering alternative ways to consider not just forests, but human societies.

Much of the dynamism of the natural world occurs in ecotones, or ‘interface environments’, which are also the domain of fungi. Likewise, the best possibilities for nurturing both natural and ruderal systems emerge at the intersections of disciplinary thought.

In this talk Alison will explore how can we foster fungal flourishing and thinking to re-enliven soils – the foundation of all terrestrial life.