Stavanger, Norway
Decades ago, the Canadian scientist Suzanne Simard hypothesized that underground networks of mycelium helped trees communicate with one another across vast areas of forest. Her ideas were dismissed as crazy until they were eventually proven to be absolutely true. It can be incredibly difficult to understand what we cannot see, either because it is microscopically small or hidden inside the earth or simply beyond our limited human imagination. Artists can be helpful here, employing unexpected materials and techniques to aid visualization. Marit Øglend does this for mycelium, much as others like the Wertheim sisters have done it for coral reefs. Using crochet, abstract painting, and woven willow branches, Øglend explores what networking can look and feel like, not scientifically but affectively. Crochet is a particularly apt method here, being structurally rhizomatic and interdependent, not to mention traditionally a women’s craft. There were many reasons why Simard was not listened to back in the day, but sexism was most definitely one of them.
—Lori Waxman, March 17, 2:29 PM