“funtastic fungi” focuses on an unnamed group that practices a communal lifestyle. A fi ve-member organism that straddles the line between being fungi and being a human have settled in a secluded place that is inaccessible to everything strange and dangerous. A place, where everyone is equal, personal interests are sacrifi ced for the common good and transparency is a given. The rules are agreed upon in the commune: the distribution of power is equal, every decision made serves a harmonious coexistence, and the goal is to maintain a garden of paradise that lasts forever. The organism, resembling both fungi and humans at the same time, is able to heal and repair, destroy and decompose. All this in order to expel everything that does not belong in the inner circle, to maintain balance in the garden where does one know only good, but not evil.
But fungi are fungi, a human is a human. If the outside does not have access, the air does not circulate, the world begins to rot from within. The facade that gardeners try to maintain, despite their efforts, is crumbling quickly and surely.
The original harmony begins to eliminate itself, we know how it ends. But there is still hope that maybe this time this is different. That heaven really is a place on Earth.
“funtastic fungi” does not investigate whether the garden of paradise is a naive wishful thinking or indeed a possible place for a harmonious life. “funtastic fungi” knows that where there is structure, there is also chaos.
Getriin Kotsar (2001) is an emerging artist from Viimsi, Estonia. In her artistic practices she works with themes like disappearance, decomposing, dreaming and passage of time. Lot of her works, performative and literary, derive from dreams, sleeping, biological/ecological processes happening in nature and everyday life. As an artist, she thrives to create atmospheres, which are melancholy, liminal, eerie and aesthetically odd, yet pleasing. “funtastic fungi” is inspired by the inevitable egoism of a human being, shiitake mushrooms and new age esotericism.
Director: Getriin Kotsar
Performers: Johanna Vaiksoo, Germo Toonikus, Maria Helena Seppik, Iris Rämmeld, Emma Lumi
Production design and stage artist: Rahel-Marii Ingver
Make-up artist: Ronja Marie Tepp
Sound design: Kaur Hannes Käämbre
Light design: Meribel Helekivi-Kalina, Elis Luigla
Producer: Emily Krutto
Extra thanks: Kai Valtna, Tiiu Tamm, Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava tiim, Koidu Seltsimaja, Ele Viskus, Kirke Talviste, Eva Maria Aru
Premiere: 8.05.2025 in Viljandi, Koidu Seltsimaja
Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava (STL) • Telliskivi 60a/9, 10412 Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia
