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This is an artistic and research-based project that offers a critical reflection on contemporary techno-capitalism and the evolution of the Internet, from its originally decentralized and egalitarian vision to a centralized infrastructure dominated by Big Tech.
Referring to the deregulation of the web in 1991, the project highlights the tension between the early vision of an open Internet formulated by Tim Berners-Lee and its subsequent commercialization. In response to this process, the artist develops a speculative concept of Web 3.0 grounded in biological models of organization, queer ecology, and the logic of mycelial networks.
The central element of the installation is the mycelium – treated as an active, co-participating network agent. In this framework, it functions as a decentralized communication infrastructure, operating horizontally through interdependence, exchange, and bio-intelligent processes. The project redefines the well-known phenomenon of the “wood wide web,” shifting the emphasis from a passive transmission model to the biological agency of fungi.
The installation also expands on the concept of the spatial Internet, introducing a material, carbon-based, and organic dimension. Here, the mycelium becomes a computational and communicative medium, enabling speculation on alternative forms of information processing and distribution.
This is an artistic and research-based project that offers a critical reflection on contemporary techno-capitalism and the evolution of the Internet, from its originally decentralized and egalitarian vision to a centralized infrastructure dominated by Big Tech.
Referring to the deregulation of the web in 1991, the project highlights the tension between the early vision of an open Internet formulated by Tim Berners-Lee and its subsequent commercialization. In response to this process, the artist develops a speculative concept of Web 3.0 grounded in biological models of organization, queer ecology, and the logic of mycelial networks.
The central element of the installation is the mycelium—treated as an active, co-participating network agent. In this framework, it functions as a decentralized communication infrastructure, operating horizontally through interdependence, exchange, and bio-intelligent processes. The project redefines the well-known phenomenon of the “wood wide web,” shifting the emphasis from a passive transmission model to the biological agency of fungi.
The installation also expands on the concept of the spatial Internet, introducing a material, carbon-based, and organic dimension. Here, the mycelium becomes a computational and communicative medium, enabling speculation on alternative forms of information processing and distribution.
On the technological level, living matter is combined with simple electronic systems: sensors, low-level circuits, and a system for sonifying biological data. The mycelium’s signals are converted into sound, creating a hybrid communication ecosystem. The minimalist, low-tech aesthetic serves as a deliberate contrast to high-energy, centralized digital structures.
The aesthetics of surveillance are also a key element of the work. CCTV cameras and red light create an atmosphere of control and observation, referencing contemporary monitoring systems and automated data analysis. A spot of white light, reminiscent of an inspection tool, directs attention to the mycelium as both an object and a subject.
Mycosphere 3.0 proposes a mycocentric perspective in which humans are no longer the system’s central point. The project treats the mycelium as an organism that negotiates relationships, acts in its own interest, and participates in shaping the information environment.
In this framework, art becomes a space for testing the future, where technology, nature, and other species form relationships based on coexistence, cooperation, and mutual responsibility.
Agata Polak (PLK) – an intermedia artist, DJ, and sound designer active in the independent club music scene and sound art. In her practice, she designs experiences through storytelling and worldbuilding (the creation of speculative worlds) that operate at the intersection of art, science, and imagination. Her primary medium is sound, which allows her to explore new forms of perception and communication.
She combines art with scientific research, developing narratives that are both realistic and fascinating, stimulating the imagination and opening up space to think beyond dominant technological and social models. She treats dreaming as a political and cognitive act. She believes that through the practice of imagination and working with the medium of sound, we can reclaim agency and co-create the future in a more conscious, empathetic, and symbiotic way.
A graduate of the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (Prof. Marek Chołoniewski’s Audiosphere Studio) and the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Silesia. Recipient of the City of Kraków Creative Scholarship 2025. Co-founder of the Castello Bizzarro festival and the Nerdka art and research collective. Her works have been presented at venues including the Ujazdowski Castle Center for Contemporary Art, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, the Foksal Gallery Foundation, and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as at festivals such as the Audio Art Festival and the Sanatorium of Sound in Sokołowsko.
Selection committee members: Michał Ostrowicki (aka Sidey Myoo), Kamil Kuitkowski, Aleksander Janicki, Zuzanna Jaworska, Klio Krajewska
