Skip to main content

Psilocybin Mushrooms - mushroom clouds in art



Europe House is hosting Tato Akhalkatsishvili’s multimedia project, Psilocybin Mushrooms, from 15 December 2015 to 17 January 2016. Held in Tbilisi, Georgia, Khatuna Khabuliani curated the exhibition. Akhalkatsishvili (1979-) is a Georgian artist who has exhibited across Europe, as well as in the United States and Japan.

Psilocybin Mushrooms, also known as psychedelic or magic mushrooms, are mushrooms with hallucinogenic properties – creating euphoria, altered thinking, and an altered sense of time. As Akhalkatsishvili states – ‘the real world turns into mirage and the border between facts and personal interpretations is blurred.’

Mushrooms also refer to the mushroom cloud after a nuclear blast. Akhalkatsishvili presents 24 works inspired by mushroom clouds. In 1946, as part of Operation Crossroads, the United States conducted two nuclear weapons tests (nuclear explosions) at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands (in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia).

The nuclear tests inspired French designer Louis Reard (1897-1984) to create a new swimsuit in 1946 for women – one divided into two parts like a ‘Bikini-divided atom.’ The ‘Atome’ was designed to be the world’s smallest bathing suit – similar costumes were worn since the 1930s but were not as controversial because they did not show the navel. The new swimsuit was, of course, the bikini, which endures to this day.

The documentary media footage of the tests showed gigantic mushroom formations. Akhalkatsishvili has used these documentary images to explore ‘reality and the absurd surrealistic visions associated with mushrooms – including the magic hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The series of conceptual landscapes by Akhalkatsishvili represent ‘artistic fantasies built on the crossing points of informational streams, where history, associations, and interpretations are constantly interacting.’ The artist’s work commences with sophisticated painting compositions ‘expanding the existential drama through objects in the installations, thus constructing a space of complex content.’

Within several works are scoured lines – either horizontal or vertical – which gives the impression of fragmented or ‘spoiled’ artwork, depicting the scars on the environmental landscape.









Labels:

Comments

  1. Barate AkhbarJuly 8, 2019 at 6:10 PM

    wow nice post. I didnt know Psilocybin Mushrooms, also known as psychedelic or magic mushrooms.So far this is informative.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...
1 comment
Read more