MYCRO is an experimental, community-run publication illuminating the world of funga and microbes through an interdisciplinary lens with contributors from academia and the industry.
WORDS + ART BY CECILIA CROWE
WORDS: HENRY GROSECLOSE
This project is inspired by Harryette Mullen’s 2013 poetry collection Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary. Tanka poetry originated in Japan as a poetic form which highlighted the relationship between the poet and the natural world, focusing patterns of attention and motion through time and space.
WORDS + CONCEPT: WEIRAN TAO
Carbonarium is a design research initiative aimed at uncovering sustainable material innovations with the potential to redefine traditional construction and manufacturing processes. It seeks to inspire and equip designers, makers, and fabricators with the novel tools to create sustainable material innovations in collaboration with bacteria. It also serves as a platform for thought, encouraging professionals in the field to think differently about how we design, create, and consume in a world increasingly mindful of its environmental impact.
WORDS + IMAGES: JUAN FERRER
This project explores a method for curators and exhibition designers to open their impermeable practice, to one that engages with the interests of the surrounding, local audiences.
WORDS + IMAGES: SOPHIA RIZZOLO
Viewed together, these five images ask us to consider what relationships lichens have with the world around them.
MYCRO BOOK CLUB
Amber Benezra is a sociocultural anthropologist researching how studies of the human microbiome intersect with biomedical ethics, public health/technological infrastructures, and care.
WORDS: KATYA BLOOMBERG
ART: DIANA KAPLUN
Microbes were there before us. They are now a part of us. Some of what is us stemmed from them.
It’s impossible to draw a line between where microbes end and we begin. Although we have always been close with them, lately we have been getting to know them much better. By knowing our microbes, we stand a chance of deeper self-reflection.
A conversation with Katherine Reeder from Ecovative design, a biotechnology company focused on growing the future of materials from mycelium.
INTERVIEW: ORKAN TELHAN + WEISSELLA P.
This interview started on May 24, 2021, a year before I started this text. I prepared myself a glass of water with 20 grams of dehydrated Weissella paramesenteroides (referred as Weisella p. throughout) mixed into dextrose. I drank this sweet bacteria-infusion every day before breakfast for two weeks.
ART + WORDS: THE BOEKE LAB
Jef Boeke’s lab, often referred to as the “Boeke Lab,” is known for its pioneering work in yeast genetics, genomics, and synthetic biology.
While the lab is primarily focused on scientific research, it has been involved in projects that bridge the gap between science and art.
WORDS + IMAGES: ROBERTA TRENTIN
The Art of Noticing, inspired by Margulis and advocated by Tsing with her invitation to be attentive to what happens beyond industry's ruins, stimulated me, and inspired me to
look at the world differently, to perceive and acknowledge our coexistence with other beings, and empower collaborations. Noticing is a form
of listening and caring.
