Performance 7 pm sharp

Human Mycelium is a performance and textile installation by Thomas De Falco, created for the Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin. The work explores the deep connections between the human body, the natural world, and the emotional and physical networks that weave us into a shared whole.

The piece takes inspiration from systems like human veins and mycelium — the underground network of fungi that connects trees and plants — as metaphors for human connection. De Falco starts with the color Prussian blue as a central element: for him, this shade of blue carries emotional and symbolic weight. It represents calmness and peace in the face of a chaotic world. It is the color of the sky, of water, of veins — the very elements of life itself. Blue becomes a way for the artist to speak about a desire for clarity, connection, and compassion.

The performance and installation unfold within a landscape created entirely from repurposed materials: tarps, sleeping bags, old clothes, purses, natural and synthetic threads. These everyday objects — often associated with protection, care, or shelter — are woven into sculptural forms that become part of both the environment and the performers themselves. De Falco gives symbolic meaning to each material: tarps, for example, are used to cover and protect but also to isolate, echoing themes of vulnerability and care.

Three performers move within this textile landscape, partly merged with the sculptures that resemble extended roots or anthropomorphic limbs. Their gestures are slow and organic, resembling the way trees or plants stretch toward light — or toward one another. The bodies do not touch, but they strive to. The entire performance is about longing: for touch, for understanding, for human closeness.

Music plays a central role in guiding this movement. Sometimes gentle and poetic, sometimes harsh or dramatic, the sound mirrors the emotional tension of the bodies in space. It follows the rhythm of desire, resistance, and connection.

One of the central motifs of the installation is what De Falco calls his “underwear series” — intimate garments worked into the textile sculptures. Many of these pieces have been worn by performers in past works, and by reusing them, De Falco creates a direct link between the performative act and the sculptural object. The underwear, having carried the memory of past performances, becomes a vessel of bodily presence and emotional residue. These garments reflect on the body’s origins, reproduction, and shared vulnerability. By covering and protecting the most intimate areas of the body, they stand as symbols of both personal and universal experience — a tactile trace of life and connection.

Human Mycelium offers a space of slowness, fragility, and interconnection. It is a reflection on the emotional and physical entanglements of our time — a moment to consider how we care for one another, how we reach out, and how, even when not touching, we remain deeply connected.

Performer: Marie Zechiel, Bien Adami, Shaun Monahan

Musik, Sound: Francesco Fusco

Curated by Chiara Valzi Mazzara