Mon 21.10.2019, 28.10.20109
Sat-Sun 02-03.11.20109

>top Lab is happy to announce a new session of ‘Mind The Fungi’ this fall 2019.
After our extraordinary first experience during the spring season, we are back with a new series of workshops on Mycofabrication and Mushroom Cultivation. At >top Lab, your learning experience is crucial, so we have implemented the opinions of our former participants and re-structured the course. In this edition, MtF will offer two independent sets of workshops where both topics will be fully covered.

The program will start on Monday evening 21st of October with the module “Mycofabrication with Mycelium”. This part will last three weeks, with classes happening on Monday evenings on 21st of October, 28th of October from 7 pm to 9 pm, and two consecutive days for drying process on Saturday November 2nd and Sunday November 3rd from 2 PM to 6 PM. 

For those interested in learning ways to cultivate mushrooms at home, the module “Home-Cultivation Mushroom Techniques”, will postpone the course to spring 2020. We will update you about the dates and details of the program. 

Due to changes to the length of the activities and partnership conditions, we had to recalculate the fee for the participation.

For the mycofabrication course (21.10 to 3.11) the fee is 40,00€ per participant. 

Get in contact with us via email to reserve a place: lab@top-ev.de (First come, first served. Waiting list is possible)

PROGRAM:

• MYCOFABRICATION WITH MYCELIUM:

• • DAY 1 – 21.10.19; from 7 to 9 PM (Shape and inoculate your object)
    • Get introduced into  “Mind the Fungi” project
    • Mycology* and laboratory crash course
    • Assemble your negative mold and start growing your object

*Mycology is the branch of biology concerned in the study of mushrooms

• • DAY 2 – 28.10.19; from 7 to 9 PM (Check and take care of your growing object)
    • Learn about applications of mycelium as biomaterial
    • Check the growth status of your object, let the object breathe

• • DAY 3 – 02.11.2019; from 2 to 6 PM (Dry your object)
    • Dry your object (Part I)
    • Get an overview of the international scene

• • DAY 4 – 03.11.2019; from 2 to 5 PM (Complete the frying of your object)
    • Dry your object (Part II)
    • Discussion
    • Network event: beer and mushroom

PROGRAM:

• HOME LAB –  CULTIVATING MUSHROOMS

THE PROGRAM OF THE SECOND PART WILL BE ANNOUNCED EARLY 2020.

 

What experience will you get by attending the mushroom fabrication course?

By taking the course, you will learn how shape own mycelium based objects, such as packaging materials, furniture, building materials and even leather, and to dry it.

• Learn directly from TU Berlin scientists and >top Lab’s practitioners mushrooms biology and how to grow fungal mycelium at home for different purposes.
• Learn how to set up self-organized mycofabrication activities at home
• Get your small custom-shaped object made of mycelium
• Learn how to set up self-organized mycofabrication activities at home.    
• Participate to a scientific project about biomaterials.   

What are the requirements?

• No prior biology or laboratory knowledge is needed to attend. Crash courses will be given at opportune moments during the course. 
• Attending the first session is mandatory.     

Terms and conditions of the registration:

• The payment of the fee in advance is mandatory to book a place for the workshop.
• The fee covers the participation to the mushroom fabrication course, but not the participation to the second part, the lab course (which will be announced separately later on).
• In case of overbooking, a waiting list will be created. We may open a parallel course if the waiting list will be long enough.
• In case of cancellation of a reserved place, the ticket will be refunded just in case another participant takes over that place by covering the fee.
• There are 15 available places for the the mycofabrication session from 21.10 to 3.11.
• The course will take place with a minimum of 10 participants.
• In case the number of participants will not be reached, the fee will be refunded. 

The team:

Prof Dr.-Ing. Vera Meyer, Head of chair at TU Berlin, Department of Applied Molecular Microbiology (AMM)

Dipl. Ing. Bertram Schmidt, Research assistant at TU Berlin, AMM

Dipl. Ing. Carsten Pohl, Research assistant at TU Berlin, AMM

Christian de Lutz, Curator, Researcher & Co-Director of Art Laboratory Berlin

Regine Rapp M.A., Curator, Researcher & Co-Director of Art Laboratory Berlin

Dr. Flavia Barragan, Chemist & Co-founder of >top Lab

M.Sc. Alessandro Volpato, Biologist & Co-founder of >top Lab

Tuce Erel, curator & cultural worker, Top Transdisciplinary Project Space member

 

Mind the Fungi

Art Laboratory Berlin together with TU Berlin, Institute for Biotechnology work on the Art & Science project Mind the Fungi, which is dedicated to the research of local mushrooms and current fungal biotechnology.

Mushrooms are used in biotechnology as cell factories to produce antibiotics, immunosuppressants, cholesterol-lowering drugs, antimalarials, insulin, prebiotics, pigments, organic acids, enzymes, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and more. The fungal biotechnology of the 20th century managed to establish itself as an essential platform technology for innumerable branches of industry and thus decisively shapes our daily life and our lifestyle in an invisible way.

At the moment, fungal biotechnology is undergoing a disruptive innovation process, which we want to co-design with citizen scientists in a sustainable manner. Mushrooms, which are produced on the basis of renewable vegetable raw materials in the biotechnological process, are to be converted, with far-reaching consequences, into packaging materials, building materials, and even leather.

In the project Mind the Fungi we use the interdisciplinary concept from STEM to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Art) to expand scientific research with artistic and design-based research. The Institute of Biotechnology works with Berlin citizens, artists and designers to develop new ideas and technologies for mushroom and lichen-based materials of the future. The Artists in Residence programme brings art and design into the project as a constructive source of ideas, multipliers and communicators of scientific issues, and supports the process of sharing research processes and findings with the public.

With the expertise of applied and molecular microbiology in the field of fungal biotechnology (Prof. Meyer), bioprocess engineering (Prof. Neubauer) and art and science communication (Art Laboratory Berlin) the aim of the project is also to establish a new, innovative and interdisciplinary field of research at the TU Berlin, which dares right from the beginning to build a bridge in the growing Citizen Science Community in order to integrate their expertise at an early stage.