The Bizarre World of Plant Cyborgs and Fungi Music

An old joke asks, “What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend? Homeless.” But what do you call a drummer that’s a bucket of mushrooms? The future of music, apparently.

One Manchester-based band is taking the term “organic music” to a whole new level. Meet Bionic and the Wires, an artistic duo who have swapped out a human percussionist for a collection of fungi. And yes, you read that correctly.

Created by Jon Ross and Andy Kidd in 2023, the project is a mesmerising blend of nature, technology, and sound. They connect mushrooms and other plants to sensors that pick up on their tiny, internal bio-electrical signals. This natural energy is then translated into a musical language that controls a set of bionic arms, which in turn strike drums, cymbals, or tap on keyboard keys.

The result is a strange and beautiful symphony played by the natural world itself. “We connect the plants through some equipment that measures the internal bioelectrical signals in the plant,” Ross explained to the Metro. “That’s converted into a music language which is called MIDI, and that is then translated into motor signals, which is how the robotic arms move.”

The Secret Music of Plants

The idea that plants have a hidden, inner life isn’t new. It’s a concept that taps into ancient folklore about sentient forests and the strange power of the natural world. But it was popularised in the 1970s by the book and documentary, The Secret Life of Plants, which explored controversial ideas about plant consciousness and telepathy.

While many of the film’s claims were dismissed as pseudoscience by botanists, it inspired a generation of artists and musicians to listen more closely to the world around them. Avant-garde composer John Cage, for example, was a lifelong mushroom enthusiast. “I have come to the conclusion that much can be learned about music by devoting oneself to the mushroom,” he once wrote.

Bionic and the Wires are continuing this tradition, using modern technology to give nature a voice. They see their work as a way to challenge our human-centric view of the world. By turning plants and fungi into performers, they ask a profound question: is art and creativity an exclusively human endeavour?

A New Kind of Collaboration

Their performances are a fascinating sight. Bionic arms, guided by the silent rhythms of a mushroom, create intricate compositions that blur the lines between biology and technology. It’s a creative partnership that reframes what it means to be an artist.

For the band, it’s about fostering a deeper, more emotional connection with the non-human world. “It’s a really good way to connect with them and a really sort of emotional experience,” Ross says. By bridging the gap between the digital and the organic, their work celebrates the hidden creativity that pulses in the life forms we often overlook. You can find some amazing art inspired by this concept over on Etsy.

In Pure Spirit

This is a beautiful reminder that there’s a complex, unseen world humming with life all around us, and sometimes, all it takes is a clever bit of tech to let us hear its song. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.