What are the sounds of mushrooms? How can you make music out of it? And how can mushrooms be used in art?

Those were the guiding questions of Johanna Mangold and Raphael D. Aletsee in their two weeks at Rietzer Berg. And that's even more remarkable considering that the two of them haven't had anything to do with mushrooms before.

They started their unplanned study with walks in the forest and identifying mushrooms. Then they connected the mushrooms to the synthesizer and recorded the bass, boom and flat sounds. According to musician Raphael of Koblenz, who made music just as a hobby so far but will start studying sound technology soon, the idea of making music with vegetables isn't entirely new, but certainly a niche area.

The independent artist Johanna wrote and sung the lyrics to it. It is about the connection between mushroom and narrator (listen to the sound sample by clicking on the link). This cooperation was that successful, that the two artists who have known each other for more than 20 years, now think about recording an album together.

Apart from the expedition into the world of mushroom sounds, the artist of Ulm made drawings of mushroom structures and spore prints. For this, she soaked mushrooms in oil paints and pressed then onto paper. After a while, the spores fell out of the mushroom hat and created a detailed image of the mushroom structures and with this a wonderful artwork.

But what's most remarkable apart from concentrating on their work, enjoying the refuge and experiencing nature: the two artists didn't eat a single mushroom in the two weeks of their mushroom study!

What are the sounds of mushrooms? How can you make music out of it? And how can mushrooms be used in art?

Those were the guiding questions of Johanna Mangold and Raphael D. Aletsee in their two weeks at Rietzer Berg. And that's even more remarkable considering that the two of them haven't had anything to do with mushrooms before.