Museo del Hongo

We spoke to Juan Ferrer, Falling Walls Engage Finalist 2020, about his project and how the Falling Walls Engage Pitches helped facilitate the contact to other projects.

What is your project about?

My project "Museo del Hongo" is about hope. Through our practice, we aim to communicate to diverse audiences both the practical and philosophical tools that the Fungi Kingdom can provide to face the challenges of the current eco-social crisis. We believe art has the power to make new realities, therefore exhibitions have been our method, bringing a sensory experience to the transfer of knowledge, audiences create their own kinship with the work, and with Nature.

What made you start this project and how did Falling Walls Engage and its community contribute to the further development of your project?

Back in 2015, I did my internship at the Fungi Foundation in Chile with Giuliana Furci and I was really overwhelmed by all the ecological marvels and disrupting features of the current structures that Fungi enlighten. I felt the need to communicate it further. I have always had a thrill for biology and have been very passionate about art, so working with them together has been quite a spiritual experience.

Falling Walls Engage has made me incorporate the potential impact of what we do as Science Engagers and it has contributed by giving me the opportunity to be part of a community where dreams are shared.

Falling Walls Engage has made me incorporate the potential impact of what we do as Science Engagers and it has contributed by giving me the opportunity to be part of a community where dreams are shared.

Juan Ferrer, Falling Walls Engage Finalist 2020

In which Falling Walls Engage format did you participate?

Falling Walls Engage Finalist 2020, Engage Cup 2021, Mexico Hub Launch 2022

Did the Falling Walls Engage formats facilitate the contact to other projects for collaborations?

Yes. On our trip to Mexico City, I was invited by Gabriela De La Torre (Falling Walls Engage Winner 2021 and Manager of the Falling Walls Engage Hub Mexico) to participate in the closing event of a school science fair at Universidad La Salle, where I shared some words with the audience during the award ceremony. Also, Eduardo González invited me to do an online talk in the context of Suma Ciencia y Arte, a science communication project in Mexico City, developed with Centro Cultural de España México.

I encountered this hopeful communitarian force that wanted to make the world a better place

Juan Ferrer, Falling Walls Engage Finalist 2020

What makes Falling Walls Engage unique to you?

The amazing, caring people.

What was your most emotional experience when you think about your collaboration with Falling Walls Engage?

When I realized that there were actually really fertile grounds for what we were doing, like an epiphany, I encountered this hopeful communitarian force that wanted to make the world a better place, which I haven’t felt before. That was quite a thing.