LIZ SAYS: I was walking around in Amsterdam, while Dick was watching cars go ‘round and ‘round in Spa. He was visiting another 24 hour race. It is hard for my little mind to grasp, but he goes for several hours and watches. He doesn’t like to stay til the end because getting out with the crowd is such a hassle. It’s not like other sports, where the end is the important thing, at least not for Dick. I mean winning matters, I guess, but just watching the cars maneuver gives him a thrill.
But, back to me. I decided to see another area of Amsterdam, on foot. Clearing my mind and exploring, when I happened upon a couple of people washing terra cotta balls in a big plastic tub on the street. I’ve used the little terra cotta balls before in the bottom of plants for drainage. But, these guys were washing a massive amount of them. Rust tinted water was running into the street and they were elbow deep in the water tubs. There was a sign that said, “Come in”, like I needed any encouragement. I walked into the building and there was a class in the front doing things with the big tubs of terra cotta balls, which turned out to be a class on hydroponic growing. The whole open room was filled with exhibitions, experiments, art projects and some laptops with info. There were packing products made of compacted mushrooms, big round loaves of ‘medium’ with all sorts of mushrooms growing out of them, molds growing petrie dishes fueling machines. One mushroom was supplying the energy for a machine that played sounds. Another was ‘attacking’ or eating a plastic chair. It was fantastic!
And, oddly enough my allergies were nowhere to be found.
It was literally a lab for anything fungus related, with gorgeous color pictures of molds in surreal colors and designs. I must have spent an hour in the place, totally absorbed in the minutia of fungus.
It was brilliant. Anyone curious enough could just walk in off the street and see experiments in progress, learn about things and see the most off beat art ever!
There were a couple of wall cards that I made a synopsis of here, so you could see what some of the pieces were about.
One wall card read:
“F-Box, by David de Buyser (BE)2012
The F-Box is a series of experiments with the end goal
Being to make a fully playable musical instrument of which
the sound is influenced by the growth of mold.”
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