Mushroom Modulations

Native Plant Trust proudly presents its first visiting artist, Christine Southworth. Christine is a Lexington-based multimedia composer whose work primarily involves nature—lightning, honeybees, coral reefs, spiders, snowflakes, and, currently, mushrooms! Her new work incorporates photographs and videos of mushrooms growing at Garden in the Woods and around Middlesex County from summer 2021 through the present, and she is using these to create an immersive performance environment. The electrical currents given off by mycelium networks are thought to be used as communication between different fungal fruiting bodies. Surrounded by her images of mushroom colonies growing and fading throughout the seasons, she will make music with live mushrooms that she has grown by “listening to" slight electrical variations in the colonies via electrodes placed on different parts of the fruiting growth and converted to sound. The performance will be followed by a discussion with the artist.

Christine Southworth is a composer and video artist based in Lexington, Massachusetts, dedicated to creating art born from a cross-pollination of sonic and visual ideas inspired by intersections of technology and art, nature and machines, and music from cultures around the world. She received a B.S. from MIT in 2002 in Mathematics and an M.A. in Computer Music & Multimedia Composition from Brown University in 2006. She has been a member of MIT-based Gamelan Galak Tika since 1999, and has composed several pieces for the group and performed at venues including Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. 

The new Visiting Artist Program at Native Plant Trust invites local artists and creatives to explore their art practice while working among the plants at Garden in the Woods and Native Plant Trust sanctuaries across New England. 

Please note: We do not make video or audio recordings of classes or programs available after the fact, because we believe education is interactive, with instructors and students building a community and culture of learning. Some programs may be recorded strictly for instructor-training purposes. Please visit this page to review this and other FAQs about our policies.