In the corner of a UCLA graduate studio, mushrooms grow on a pair of jeans, a toy lizard and a knit pullover.
For his exhibition, Design | Media Arts graduate student Peter Lu said he decided on a more traditional and tangible approach instead of using media technology: planting mushrooms on everyday things. Lu said he was inspired by Phil Ross, an American artist and teacher interested in the experimental possibilities of fungal design and building.
Lu’s exhibition, “Amanita,” will be on display Tuesday and Wednesday in the Experimental Digital Arts room at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center as the latest installment in the exhibition series featuring the 2015 master of fine arts candidates.
Lu said he took the opportunity to put his idea into action by holding a community workshop to help promote social awareness of environmental friendliness. He asked all of his classmates to bring in a personal belonging.
“We sat in a circle and put the items in boiling water, and took them out after a while,” Lu said. “This process pasteurizes the materials, so it kills the competing fungi bacteria in there.”
Design | Media Arts graduate student Hsin-Yu Lu said Peter Lu’s workshop was mainly about raising social awareness of environmental protection.
“Since Design | Media Arts is more about media art, you rarely get a chance to get your hands dirty and get physical,” said Hsin-Yu Lu. “We were actually planting mushrooms in sweaters and furniture, and we had a lot of fun.”
Hsin-Yu Lu said Peter Lu is very conscious of environmental protection and compassion, and these characteristics are reflected in his work.
“His work is the opposite of commodity,” Hsin-Yu Lu said. “It is more about the connection between people, bringing people together.”
After creating the ideal environment for his fungi experiment, Peter Lu began formal exploration in terms of what is practical to do with mushrooms. Lu said he prefers to keep the details secret for now, so the viewers can see for themselves during the exhibition. However, he said there will be a majestic throne, more than 5 feet tall, that resembles the shape of a mushroom. The throne will be the centerpiece of the exhibition, which Lu views as a throne room.
“The whole space (of EDA) will be filled by a variety of mushrooms,” Lu said.
Lu said he spent two months preparing for the exhibition, and he believes the process of creating his work and the preparation are more important than the actual work itself. Lu said this exhibition gave him time to discover himself.
“The only thing I am saying in this exhibition is essentially something to myself,” Lu said.
Prior to becoming a master of fine arts candidate, Lu graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, a master’s degree in mathematics and had been working on developing computer games, such as the award-winning “Perfect Woman” with Lea Schönfelder, a German animator.
“I am interested in exploring the role of women in games, their involvement,” Lu said.
Although formerly a math student, Lu said he prefers to explore new, controversial fields, which brought him to UCLA’s master of fine arts program.
Eddo Stern, a professor in the Design | Media Arts department, said he has known Lu for six years, adding that Lu has always been against waste and an advocate of a do-it-yourself lifestyle, having made his backpack, fixed his bike and designed his own furniture.
“I guess what led him to choosing mushroom as the main element of this solo exhibition is the scientific challenge of growing mushrooms, and the economic side – growing mushrooms is very practical,” Stern said.