LUNATIC UTOPIA: CURED BY THE MOON, 2022
“Our culture is sick because we have lost our sense of belonging and connection.
To address this, we must create new spaces for existence where individuals can find meaning and connection despite feeling lost.
Lunatic Utopia is one such imagined space that utilizes fungi to help us reimagine our cultural horizons and discover new ways of understanding the world.”
“Lunatic Utopia: Cured by the Moon” was an art installation concept developed at the Arts Academy of Latvia. It aimed to address societal disconnection by creating an imagined space on the moon.
The project investigated the potential of fungi to enhance mental health and well-being, imagining a utopian lunar colony as a speculative solution. The installation brought together multiple components, including a series of intaglio prints created using traditional techniques such as drypoint, etching, aquatint, lavis, and sugar lift (each measuring 40 × 25.8 cm), large-scale illustrations (85 × 112 cm), a sculptural piece made from mycelium and lava (130 × 90 × 60 cm), fifty black-and-white A3 collages and posters, as well as animations and a soundscape.
The project proposed the use of lunar resources, such as ice near the poles, to sustain life and myco-architecture, a construction method employing fungal mycelium stronger than reinforced concrete.
I generated concept images to visualize the lunar utopian colony. “Cured by the Moon” symbolized the cultivation of fungi to enhance human, societal, and environmental resilience, introducing the concept of mycoremediation—a bioremediation technique using fungi to decontaminate the environment.
The installation explored the moon’s gravity, water, and lava tunnels as potential resources, offering insights into transforming the moon into a self-sustaining space. By reevaluating the relationship with madness and harnessing its potential, the project challenged traditional therapeutic methods. “Lunatic Utopia” invited viewers to contemplate an idealized space where everything was perfect, emphasizing the profound connection between humans, nature, and the moon.
LUNATIC UTOPIA
Cured by the Moon
FUNGI BASE in the Moon
A COLONY for Utopians
Intaglio prints, illustrations, photos, collages, animations and soundscape
Fungi Base in the Moon
Mycelium and lava sculpture
130 cm x 90 cm x 60 cm
Art installation in the Moon
The art project “Lunatic Utopia: Cured by the Moon” is being developed and supervised at the Arts Academy of Latvia
UTOPIA
An imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.
LUNATIC
From the 16th century, the Moon also served to explain changes in mood, as well as certain forms of madness that occurred at intervals, connected to the lunar phases.
CURED BY THE MOON
The project aims to create a space where we can re-evaluate our relationship with madness and harness its potential, in response to the failure of traditional therapeutic methods. By cultivating fungi, we hope to improve the resilience of individuals, communities, and the environment.
