Foraging Frohnau
About the project
As the seasons turn, artist and composer Gabriel Francisco Lemos will spend 2 weeks at Künstlerhof Frohnau, exploring the mushrooms of the neighbouring forest as part of ReRouting’s Walking Residency.
Connected to his time in the forest, and as a continuation of his ongoing foraging practice, Gabriel will lead a series of walks. These walks treat foraging as a listening and integrated senses practice, as much as one of gathering. Finding mushrooms depends on a particular quality of attention: slowing down, letting the eye stop scanning for a target and start noticing texture, edge, decay, the shift in ground underfoot. We will walk in silence for stretches, when needed mushroom identification information will be introduced. Then jumping to listening; we will follow sound as a way of orienting the forest, and as a method to pay attention to what becomes perceived once the group grounds themselves. This foraging practice borrows from John Cage, in the sense that the material is already there; the work is in the framing of attention.
On the occasion of the first walk, a dinner will be hosted under the trees, expanding the foraging practice towards a social one. What we’ve gathered will go into a shared meal, and the conversation over the table becomes the place where the walk is “metabolised”. What did people notice, what did they miss, and what did the forest feel like once we stop narrating it to ourselves?
When
Friday 25 September: Walk 13:00-17:00, dinner 19:00 to late
Sunday 4 October: Walk 10:00–14:00, with lunch break
Sunday 11 October: Walk 10:00–14:00, with lunch break
Sunday 18 October: Walk 10:00–14:00, with lunch break
Register for the walks here.
Where
Meeting point: at the front of Frohnau S-Bahn station
Language and Accessibility
Language: English
Accessibility note: Each walk runs roughly three hours at a slow pace, with a lunch break in between. The route will go off the main path at times and isn’t easily accessible by wheelchair/pushchair. Please email us with any accessibility requests.
Liability Note
This walk includes the identification, collection and preparation of wild mushrooms. We forage only well-known, easily identifiable species. No medium- or advanced-level edibles are collected or served. Even with common species, individual tolerances vary, so participants are advised not to eat a large portion of any mushroom they haven’t eaten before. Participants must inform ReRouting in advance of any allergies, dietary requirements or relevant food intolerances.
Participation in foraging and consumption of wild mushrooms is voluntary. Participants should follow the walk leader’s instructions and should not consume any mushroom that has not been specifically approved for consumption during the event. Participants eat at their own discretion.
Gabriel Francisco Lemos
Gabriel Francisco Lemos is an artist, composer, and educator based in Berlin. His work spans organized sound, technology, both spoken and written word, and moves across performance, video, printed matter, audio fixed media and sound installation. His research centers on the creative unknowns and societal implications of knowledge systems in artistic processes, and he currently experiments with neural synthesis in generative sound art applied to hybrid narrative formats. He is also a passionate amateur mycologist, drawing fungi, foraging, and network thinking into his practice and teaching.
Lemos has exhibited at festivals and events in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Chile, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Monaco, and Portugal. He holds a PhD in Arts (Music) from the University of São Paulo, an MA in Musicology and Aesthetics, and bachelor’s degrees in Visual Arts and Music Composition with emphasis in ensemble contemporary music and electroacoustic.
Image Credits
Images 1-6 credit: Lucia Alfaro Valencia. Image 7 credit: Cherry Collins