Living Labyrinths at Exeter's RAMM Explores the Cultural World of Fungi
The Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery in Exeter is set to unveil the exhibition Living Labyrinths, dedicated to fungi, starting from October 3 and running until February 21. Curator Lara Goodband revealed that it took five years to prepare for this exhibit, thanks to the area's favorable warm and humid conditions. Visitors will find a mix of Victorian fungal specimens and modern artworks. A unique sound installation by Jason Singh, named The Intelligence Below, transforms mycelium voltage into sound. The exhibit also features watercolor works by Beatrix Potter, borrowed from the Victoria and Albert Museum, alongside Jo Pearl's In Balance, inspired by the newly identified fungus Potteromyces asteroxylicola. Additionally, Gemma Anderson-Tempini’s Myco-Mother uses local soil in her watercolors to reflect personal mycobiome mapping. Goodband links the rising interest in fungi to Merlin Sheldrake’s book, Entangled Life.
Key facts
- Living Labyrinths opens at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) in Exeter on 3 October and runs until 21 February
- RAMM contemporary art curator Lara Goodband said the exhibition was five years in the making
- Jason Singh created the sound installation The Intelligence Below using biofeedback sensors to translate mycelium electricity into sound in Fingle and Yarner woods
- Beatrix Potter watercolour studies are loaned by the Victoria and Albert Museum
- Jo Pearl's In Balance is based on Potteromyces asteroxylicola, named after Potter in 2023 after identification in Natural History Museum collections
- Gemma Anderson-Tempini made Myco-Mother, 2026, with scientists from the University of Exeter's MRC Centre for Medical Mycology
- Anderson-Tempini collected red sandstone from Exmouth and soil from Killerton, grinding them into watercolours
- Goodband linked rising fungi interest partly to Merlin Sheldrake's book Entangled Life
Entities
Artists
- Gemma Anderson-Tempini
- Beatrix Potter
- Jo Pearl
- Jason Singh
- Merlin Sheldrake
- Lara Goodband
Institutions
- Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery
- RAMM
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Natural History Museum
- University of Exeter
- MRC Centre for Medical Mycology
- The Guardian
Locations
- Exeter
- United Kingdom
- Devon
- England
- Fingle
- Yarner
- Exmouth
- Killerton