Mycelium network is an example of the hidden underground connections between mushrooms, plants and trees.
Beneath the ground across the planet there are millions of fine roots called hyphae which play an important part in nature.
Mycelium plays an important roll in protecting the environment and providing for humanity.
Apart from providing us with food and medicine, mycelium can save and regenerate trees and plants after forest fires and they can even break down toxins in polluted soils and turn them into harmless by-products.
After developing a passion for mushrooms and mycelium, I knew I had to create a lighting display which would represent this amazing phenomenon and raise awareness of this incredible species.
Below are various examples of my work which were all designed and tailored to each specific site with a range of specifications and scale, for various different budgets.
It has become very popluar and has toured several UK sites in 2023 and has also been in several different countries around the world in early 2024 with lots more planned for lighting trails around the UK this winter.
Just like real mushrooms which can be found on every continent, my artwork has been tested through the harshest snow blizzards in the north of iceland, to the baking sun in South Africa and Australia.
I thoroughly enjoy creating a different design and keep trying to make the display bigger and better.
Its a very colourful, animated display which seems as if its alive and communicating. The ever changing, beautiful transition of colours is simply mesmerising which makes it very popular with the crowds who will often stand and stare, take videos and photos and talk about.
December 2022 - Illuminating Ushaw
This is the first example of Mycelium Network I ever created, and my first installation at a winter lighting trail. It was for a small local lighting festival in County Durham with a very small budget. In fact, I put more of my own money into this just to make this display the best I could, with the hope of being noticed from festivals and events.
August 2023 - Carry On Camping
In the summer of 2023 I was interested in taking my kids to a family camping festival in Lincolnshire UK. Turns out they were very interested in my work and were planning on having a mini lighting trail on an evening at their event. Again a small budget event but i was keen to display Mycelium Network wherever i could as i knew the potential behind it and also wanted to show how scalable and customisable the artwork is, so I jumped at the chance to display it again, this time focusing more on the mushrooms, rather than the mycelium.
November-December 2023 - Wimpole Estate
My smaller displays had done exactly as intended, gave other festivals confidence in me and my work and showed the potential this artwork has and how impressive it could be with larger budgets. This is the first of three events i was hired to complete for Culture Creative, who host some of the UKs largest and prestigious winter lighting trails. I love installing Mycelium Network with different designs, and this tree stump I was offered gave me a perfect centre piece for the mycelium to radiate out from which worked out very well with mushrooms scattered around the edges.
November-December 2023 - Stourhead Estate
The second of my installations for Culture Creative, on another National Trust Estate at Stourhead. This time i was given a patch of land amongst some enormous Rhododendrons. The mycelium twists and turns around the trees and plants and looks as if it taking over the environment. Although the video shows various colour combinations, on this occasion it was requested that the display was left to show only blue and white, to fit the theme of the festival and surrounding artworks.
November-December 2023 - Dunham Massey
The third and final installation of the year for Culture Creative is the largest Mycelium Network display to date. Covering a triangular area of approx 30x17m beneath some birch trees. Its a great example of how this artwork can be scaled up to be a much bigger, more immersive display. Set on the beautiful grounds of Dunham Massey National Trust Estate this display was very popular with the crowds and worked very well along the trail. The display consists of several large clusters which twist and overlap each other as they spread across the landscape with around 1000 mushrooms of different sizes and shapes.
January 2024 - Skagastrond, Iceland
I was a successful applicant for an artist residency in a remote village in Iceland where I installed a small but interesting version of Mycelium Network. I had always wanted to see how fibre responded to a blanket of snow. The weather is very unpredictable in Iceland, so it was anyones guess at wheter we would get snow at the right time. Luckily it worked out perfect for me as once the display was installed, we had a slight snow storm which left a few inches of snow on top of the fibres. The mycelium looked brilliant under the snow! It was still perfectly visible and although the detail of each individual strand was lost in places with thicker snow, it seemed to make all of the colours blend into each other more and create a kind of blurred/diffused mixture of colour.
February 2024 - Copenhagen, Denmark
From Iceland I headed straight over to Copenhagen where I installed this example of Mycelium Network for the 2024 Copenhagen Lighting festival which looks absolutely amazing from above on this drone shot. The location was quite special too, this was installed outside of Bygaard, an organic mushroom production company who produce thousands of edible mushrooms for local restaurants. It was a pleasure meeting the owners, staff and having a tour around the building and having the opportunity to display my work outside of their premises.
March 2024 - Stellenbosch, South Africa
From the cold winter snow in Iceland and Denmark to the baking sun baked wine farms of South Africa. It was an amazing experience installing Mycelium in a hot country for a change! Stellenbosch is known for its amazing wine and the Spier Wine farm has an annual light trail which I was very excited to have been commissioned for. A small but detailed version of mycelium was on display for the whole of March.
March 2024 - Enlighten, Canberra, Australia
This is one of the best Mycelium Network displays I’ve created. I spent around 4 days making this display as detailed as possible. Using three trees i created three separate clusters of mycelium which radiate out and connect with each other showing lots of different colours. I was lucky enough to stay and spend a few nights at the festival and stand around and watch all the crowds gather and listening to all of the lovely comments from people. I was so overwhelmed and just blown away by the amount of people who would come and take photos and videos and stand and chat about how amazing it looked. Video coming soon.
Coming soon...
You can see Mycelum network throughout 2024 at the following events, with more being added as this artwork grows into a world wide piece that everyone wants to see!
Blenheim Palace – UK
Edinburgh Botanical Gardens – Scotland
Bedgebury Pinetum – UK
Kendal Calling – UK
Bute Park -Whales
Northern Lights, Newcastle – UK