Mutual Benefits, 2024

In Mutual Benefits, an exhibition created specifically for the Rialto 6 space, Diana Policarpo delves into two enigmatic sub- jects — the human mind and mycelium — investigating their intricate connections to language and the effects of excessive extraction and synthesis of medicinal resources within fragile ecosystems. This exploration unfolds in an immersive land- scape where bodies — human, more-than- human, and their remnants — merge in a complex web of mutual interference. Central to this narrative is the eerie vitality of a carcass: Ophiocordyceps sinensis, a parasitic fungus that zombifies its host, turning ghost moth caterpillars into vessels for its own survival.

As Policarpo traces the social and ecological life of Cordyceps, another laboring body emerges in Summer Grass Winter Worm, a site-specific installation styled as a shop window: figures on the Tibetan Plateau, bent over rugged slopes, their hands care- fully plucking the precious fungus as the seasons shift from spring to summer. In Fungal Highways, a 3D animation shows scientific imagery that captures human neurons, abstracted and juxtaposed with the tangled mycelial networks of fungi intertwined with plant roots — mycorrhizal networks — suggesting a profound layer of interconnection. A voice from a speculative near-future space mission echoes through the ether, while the amplified movements of athletes — arms swinging, muscles taut — underscore yet another dimension of the human body as a site for the exercise of biopower (Adaptogens).

These vivid fragments, documenting the world’s most expensive fungus — renowned for its medicinal, therapeutic, and pharmacological properties — come together in Policarpo’s latest solo exhibition.

Featuring six sets of new works in specu- lative video installations, sound pieces, and color pencil drawings, Mutual Benefits marks the conclusion of her multiyear, on- site research into caterpillar fungus, tracing its complex value chain since 2019. The research spans India, Nepal, and, more recently, China, delving into the social, sexual, economic, and political dimensions surrounding the Cordyceps species.

In China, where Cordyceps is consumed the most, Policarpo observed its booming commercial use and examined the key players and institutions driving the global market. Mutual Benefits highlights the dynamics of this market, the consequences of over-extraction, and the role of the bio- tech industry in synthesizing this highly valuable medicine. Since this type of fungus can only be harvested on the Tibetan Pla- teau and cannot be artificially grown, the demand also significantly impacts the live- lihoods of poor local communities in the Himalayas. Despite its importance to Indigenous mountain communities, there remains a lack of knowledge about the commercial processes involved in Cordy- ceps collection and trade, particularly its pathways from remote communities to urban markets — and even into space.

As a lifeform thriving on parasitism, Cordy- ceps epitomizes necropolitics — the death of larvae is both the precondition and the price of its production. This exploitative cycle reflects the looming threat of ecological collapse. Nicknamed “soft gold,” Cordy- ceps captivates consumers with promises of vitality and longevity. The drive to rege- nerate Cordyceps for economic profit — whether through extraction or synthetic reproduction — has become a central focus of its research. A two-channel video Adaptogens presents a semi-fictionalized tale of a medicinal fungus transported into space in the near future, even as it faces extinction on Earth. The narrative shifts between various bodies — from a scientist to a parasitic fungus. In a hallucinatory landscape of light and atmosphere, capi- talist decadence on Earth intertwines with the astromycologist’s body, merging the fungus and extraterrestrial plants into a newly created symbiotic organism.

This theme of pushing bodies beyond fact and fiction extends into the world of sports.
In another two-channel video, 29:31.78, Policarpo references the historic 1993 world record set by Chinese runner Wang Junxia, known as the “Eastern Deer,” who achieved a sub-30-minute time in the 10,000-meter race, as indicated by the title. Her coach, Ma Junren, famously credited Cordyceps as a crucial part of her training regimen, a narrative thread that spurred the emergence of new compa- nies seeking to commercialize this medi- cinal fungus. However, controversy soon followed. Just two years later, as a wave of athletes began to drop out, scandals

emerged, revealing that Ma’s extreme and manipulative training methods were the true foundation of this miraculous performance. As Policarpo employs pro- longed temporality and detailed zooming in to counterpoint the stories behind the scenes, she suggests that the very blurring of lines between reality and fiction is, in fact, clarifying the profound connections among biology, labor extraction, and capitalism.

Complementing the artworks, the exhibition is enriched with details where the artist implicitly employs elemental mediums that evoke the atmosphere of science labs cultivating Cordyceps species, inviting viewers to briefly adopt the perspective of a fungus being. The wood chips stuffed into the cushion recall the materials used in artificial cultivation, while the lighting temperature, lending the show an electric vibe, mirrors the controlled illumination of the growth process. The ventilation system, reminiscent of airborne fungal dissemination, further strengthens this connection.

While Policarpo’s use of sensory environ- ments — wood, lighting, and wind — may allude to the consumptive impulse of capitalist seduction, a comparative exam- ination of our bodily presence in relation to these elements prompts a series of critical questions: Who is the parasite? Initially, this question appears to be a cerebral experiment in metabolism, in which relationships dissolve into fluid states of becoming. However, upon further reflection, this assumed symbiosis — blurring the lines between virtual and real, subject and object — is often romanticized as “inter- dependency,” concealing the underlying- dynamics of value exchange, manipulation, sacrifice, and violence that it subtly entails in a capitalist world. In this spirit, Policarpo’s speculative narrative urges us to engage our perceptions across various agents and bodies, each acting as a mediu or conduit, to interrogate the power dynamics behind the production of fungal science. Taking into account the factors
of scale and power relations, a key ques- tion her work raise is: What causes mutual- ism to dissolve into veiled parasitism, and to what extent can exchange foster mutual survival rather than exploitation?

Sam Shiyi Qian