Mutualistas | juanferrer

artists work

Mutualistas

2022

3-channel video-installation

12'36''

Collaborators:

Max Ferrer, sound design

Scientific images by

Dr. Patricia Silva-Flores

Isabel Mujica

Gabriela Baeza

Rómulo Santelices

Antonio Cabrera

Christian Valdés

Carola Roa, curator

Mycorrhizal fungi have embraced the roots of plants as long as they have existed. They establish a relationship called mycorrhiza, in which the plant and the fungus benefit from each other. Arbuscular mycorrhizae, for example, are life partners of more than 80% of terrestrial plants, and embrace the roots at the cellular level, forming arbuscules and vesicles that, among other things, deliver the nutrients they absorb from the soil and protect the plant from environmental stress and pathogens. Ectomycorrhizal fungi, on the other hand, wrap the roots with a protective mantle; they spread thousands of filaments in the soil that nourish and take care of them. Orchid mycorrhizal fungi accompany orchids from their seed, this primary loving encounter allows them to germinate and is the main source of nutrition in their first stage of growth. This relationship changes with the passage of time, when the orchid is able to nourish itself, it becomes the main source of food for its fungal ally.

These three types of mycorrhizal relationships are part of the network of life of the maulina coastal mountain range, native and exclusive to this part of the world, which is currently threatened by ecological fragmentation, temperature increases and decreased precipitation, phenomena characteristic of the socio-environmental crisis of which we are a part. Various investigations by researchers from CIEAM and the Centro del Secano of the Universidad Católica del Maule, CECORCH and the NGO Micófilos, on the mycorrhizae associated with the native plants Gomortega keule (queule), Nothofagus alessandrii (ruil) and Bipinnula sp. (orchids), invite us to think about ecological restoration strategies that consider mycorrhizal relationships as a factor in strengthening the resilience and adaptation of ecosystems in the Maule region. Mutualistas is an immersive experience inspired by this microscopic embrace between native plant species of the Maule region and their companions, mycorrhizal fungi.