Thanks to tip from @fungalgenomes, we find out about FungiFest at the Machine Project in L.A. Or better to say the L.A. times has an article on it, FungiFest breaks the festival mold. Of course not even the best newspaper writers in the world can resist using fungal puns in their headlines (sigh). There is some way cool stuff going on there.
Saturday’s opening night includes the screening of Fenster’s short film “Fly Amanita,” in which an actor wearing an elaborate, red-speckled headpiece portrays a human-sized toadstool and waxes existential.
Saturday also features an appearance by botanist and mycological consultant Bob Cummings. A professor at Santa Monica City College, Cummings will be on hand for a question-and-answer session and to help identify mushrooms brought in by attendees.
A race track made of agar will be dusted with dried Physarum polycephalum — a species that technically belongs to the kingdom Protista but is often included in mycological study. A starting gun will pop, and the slime molds’ progress will be evaluated the following week, after they’ve had time to ooze toward a finish line 110 millimeters away.
Oh yeah. I think they should have set up some Neurospora in race tubes and let them have at it too. Find out more about FungiFest at Machine Project from the project website. Wouldn’t it be great if something like this went on tour?
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