About Mycelium
Fine, branching filaments stretch through the dark, forming a network that seems both fragile and alive.
Some threads are barely visible; others gather into brighter paths, meeting and dividing as they grow. The light moves through soft blue and cyan tones, with layers of delicate strands appearing at different depths.
Mycelium is a field of luminous connections, where no single line seems more important than the others. Together, they form something larger than any one branch.
What happens when you stay
The network grows towards your presence.
New paths extend from existing ones, reaching into the surrounding space and connecting with neighbouring strands. Your movements influence where the growth takes place, while older structures remain as traces of what happened before.
Stay near one area and watch it become more intricate. Move somewhere else and a different part of the network begins to answer.
Over time, the space develops its own history, shaped by the places where you have been.
Where it comes from
Mycelium is the network of microscopic fungal threads, called hyphae, that grows through soil, wood and other materials.
These branching structures explore their surroundings, absorb nutrients and connect different parts of a fungal organism. Some fungi also form mycorrhizal relationships with plant roots, exchanging nutrients with their hosts.
Mycelial networks have inspired research and art concerned with distributed systems, collective behaviour and forms of intelligence without a central controller. Mycelium draws from their branching geometry and quiet persistence.
Its luminous filaments are an artistic interpretation, not a biological simulation, of how living networks can grow through connection rather than through a single point of control.
Things to try
- Stay near one branch and watch it extend.
- Move towards an empty part of the network.
- Follow a connection as it divides into smaller paths.
- Return to a place you visited earlier.
How to explore Mycelium
You can explore with a mouse, a touch screen or your own hands.
Mouse and keyboard
- Move the pointerthe filaments sense you and slowly grow towards where you are.
- Hold the mouse buttonfeed the network: the flow brightens and runs along its routes.
- Release the buttonthe glow lingers on the routes it took, then slowly fades.
- Use the wheel or ↑ ↓nothing changes here: the network answers only your presence.
Touch
- Move a finger on the scenethe filaments sense you and slowly grow towards where you are.
- Keep a finger still for a momentfeed the network: the flow brightens and runs along its routes.
- Lift your fingerthe glow lingers on the routes it took, then slowly fades.
- Spread two fingers or bring them togethernothing changes here: the network answers only your presence.
Hands, with the camera
- Point with your index fingerthe filaments sense you and slowly grow towards where you are.
- Bring thumb and index together and holdfeed the network: the flow brightens and runs along its routes.
- Separate thumb and indexthe glow lingers on the routes it took, then slowly fades.
- Open your palm or close your fistnothing changes here: the network answers only your presence.
A mouse, touch or keyboard is enough. Choosing “Hands” here only shows instructions; it never turns on the camera.