Fungus Signals Turned Into Music in British Collective's Experiment

The UK bio-art collective “Bionic and the Wires” has unveiled an unusual project in which the bioelectric signals of a fungus become live music. Engineer Jon Ross built a customised robotic arm that uses electrodes attached to the fungus to read changes in its electrical conductivity and convert them into MIDI control data. MIDI is a standard that electronic musical instruments use to communicate with one another. The data makes the mechanical arm play a keyboard instrument.

How it works

The fungus does not press the keys itself. The robotic arm does, based on electrical changes produced by the mycelium, the network of fine fibres that makes up the fungal body. The bioelectric impulses act as instructions for a synthesiser, turning biological processes that are normally invisible into sound audible in a room. The mechanism works somewhat like a very slow, organic theremin, an electronic instrument.

What science says

Fungal mycelium does produce measurable electrical activity, but scientists urge caution in interpreting it. Studies show low-voltage, low-intensity currents that are not comparable to the nerve impulses of animals or humans. Nothing indicates that fungi have intelligence, thought or the ability to compose music consciously. Measurements are also significantly affected by environmental factors such as room humidity and temperature.

The collective presents the installation as an exploration of natural intelligence, yet it is closer to an artistic experiment than scientific proof of fungal consciousness. The project raises a philosophical question about the limits of creativity and intent: where the role of the biological organism ends and where the interpretation by a human-made device begins.