In her study of the matsutake mushroom, Anna Tsing describes the process of ‘multispecies time making’, as non-human organisms ‘enlist each other and coordinate in making landscapes’. (2) Within this process Tsing highlights the different temporal patterns that are often ignored by linear stories of progress. Progress often projects a singular perspective upon a landscape or temporality - much like the process of extrapolation in science-fiction.

In the Spring 2020, I began to grow chestnut mushrooms. I studied the mycelium - the vegetative part of the mushroom - as it grew throughout the soil. The white, thread, or mould-like structure began to cover the compost. And one day, a mushroom emerged. Witnessing this process felt like a materialisation of time - multiple temporalities all held within this palm-sized space. I only grew a handful of mushrooms but I was surprised at how this process was never really about the outcome but rather, observing the rhythm of mycelium growth and the unexpected and sudden materialisation of nutrients in mushroom form. Tsing cites the mycologist Alan Rayner who describes his joy at the indeterminacy of mushroom growth, believing it to be one of the most exciting things about them.(3)

This indeterminacy and re-thinking of progress is echoed in re-turning and intra-acting - two processes of entangling that I explore in this section

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Anna Tsing’s theory of multiple temporal patterns connects with Ursula le Guin’s thought-experiment, a feminist approach to science-fiction. Le Guin’s thought-experiment offers an alternative to progressive, forward-facing narratives. The thought-experiment is a method that Le Guin has borrowed from quantum scientists to describe reality.(4) Time and reality in quantum physics are entangled spaces, with multiple threads running through. It is not the linear, straight-forward path that classical science places us on. By rejecting these patriarchal and logical approaches, Le Guin and Tsing re-imagine western notions of progression that have taken over our narrative structures and ways of living.

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1. Anna Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of The World, (Princeton: Princeton, 2015) p.8

2. Ibid. p.21

3. ibid. p.46

4. Ursula Le Guin, ‘Introduction’ in The Left Hand of Darkness, (London: SF Masterworks, 2017), pp. 13-17 (p.13)

Image: Cecelia Graham, growing chestnut mushrooms, 2020