If you've lived in Orlando for more than a few months, you've probably been captivated by Doug Rhodehamel's work, perhaps without even knowing it. Even if you haven't attended an art show including his work (like Cardboard Art Festival, his most recent Stardust show, or his takeover of the Lake Eustis Museum in 2010), almost everyone has driven or walked or biked past a drift of mushrooms, wondered why they didn't remember the kind of downpour that would cause an infestation of mushrooms that huge, and had the quick realization that oh, those aren't actual fungi, they're art.
So, to those who already know and love Doug: Hi! And to those who didn't realize there was one person behind all of those brown-paper fungi: Welcome to the SPORE Project, Rhodehamel's attempt to take over the world – that is, with art. Tens of thousands of these paper-bag mushrooms have been "planted," on every continent of the planet (including Antarctica!); in March, Rhodehamel made the 50,000th one in front of an audience. The tutorial for making the mushrooms can be found here — teachers around the world have led classes in creating them, which is why they can be found on every continent — and now, Rhodehamel wants to slip the surly bonds of earth and get an astronaut to make one in space. To stay in touch with the next phase of the SPORE Project, like the page on Facebook and stay tuned. There's every reason to believe that in Gravity 2, Sandra Bullock will see one of those little suckers floating past the porthole. Or whatever you call a window in space.
