Workshop

Building with Mycelium

with Arne Hendriks

26 Aug 2022

Pigeons are seriously underappreciated. That's a mistake. Not only are they incredible navigators, fantastic cleaners-up of street left-overs, powerful cultural metaphors of hope and peace, and a nice companion species, they also produce some of the world's finest fertiliser. This is why we are building pigeon shit towers at Mediamatic to house ferile pigeons and collect their droppings. 

Pigeon towers used to exist everywhere to produce extra fertiliser needed to support growing populations. When artificial fertiliser was discovered most towers became neglected, as did their inhabitants. We want to change that. We build our towers with living waste mycelium from the oyster mushroom agri-industry. It takes a bit of practise and a bit of experience. During the workshop we want to share what we've learned, and talk about some of the reasoning behind bringing these iconic living structures back into the cityscape.

Please join artist Arne Hendriks as he explains some of the practical and not so practical aspects of working with living matter for a living environment.


Tickets / Facebook

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Mycelium blocks stacked together to form a Pigeon Tower - Arne Hendrik's imagined pigeon tower rendered by Dominik Einfalt and Andy Cartier Arne Hendriks, Dominik Einfalt, Andy Cartier

With: Arne Hendriks
With:
Arne Hendriks, Aya Koné

What you will do 

In this workshop you will learn all about how to learn to love our fellow flighted friends and create a home for them within the pigeon towers at Mediamatic. Collaborating together in the creation of small wooden pigeon boxes will not only provide you with a space to learn about working with living materials like mycelium, but how to make space for “the other” in our daily lives: be that pigeons, fungi, spores, insects, etc.

Arne will introduce you to the 11 towers already constructed and assist you in the creation of your own pigeon box. This workshop is a space for collaboration and exploration surrounding everything to do with creating space for a once-loved and now frowned upon species. 

You will learn about building with mycelium, pigeons; their lifestyle and history, and how to make space for “the other” in our daily lives. This is not a masterclass in the art of understanding pigeons but a space where Arne invites you to collaborate with the pigeons, each other, and the mycelium.

Arne Hendriks

Arne Hendriks is an artist and researcher on human ecology. He believes we should be more generous towards ourselves in allowing radical new ideas and practices to re-define our relationship with the planet. In his practice, he focusses on the process instead of a result. By patiently letting the findings of his research be his guide, he allows himself to constantly shift views and perspectives and discover new realities within his topic.

Tickets

Full price 39| Discount 30
We give a discount to students, artists and Stadspas holders. If this applies to you we might ask to see your kvk nr/portfolio or student card for this option.

Information

26th of August, 14:00-16:00
We maintain a minimum of 5 participants.
Please note that, unless everyone speaks Dutch, this workshop will be held in English.
For questions please e-mail workshop@mediamatic.nl.

We are taking corona safety into account at our workshops. 
Read our ticket terms and conditions here.

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Aya and Bogdana creating a pigeon unit - The artists  Arne Hendriks  and   Aya Kone   explain some of the practical and not so practical aspects of working with living matter for a living environment. At this workshop Arne is introducing the 11 towers already constructed and assisting in the creation of the participants own pigeon box. This workshop is a space for collaboration and exploration surrounding everything to do with creating space for a once-loved and now frowned upon species. Caroline Aravicius

With: Bogdana Schiopu, Aya Koné
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Tools to be building pigeon units - Caroline Aravicius