MUTAGEN

The organism

In the CHERNAMARS novel there is a black substance — a meta-organism. It grows, changes shape, moves and takes over vast territories. Some of its forms grow gigantic, others stay small, but all of them are parts of a single network. That is why the idea led me from the start toward mycelium and fungi.

The reality

Studying the biology of real organisms, I came across melanised radiotrophic fungi. They were found on the walls of the ruined reactor at the Chornobyl nuclear plant in the early 1990s, and in 2007 scientists described something remarkable: under radiation they grow faster. The melanin in their cells appears to let them use radiation as a source of energy for growth. They are among the very few known forms of life capable of this. The fungus survives in extreme conditions. It has already been tested on the ISS as a shield against cosmic radiation, and scientists are considering it for radiation shielding, medicines and bio-implants that could help humans survive on Mars.
This organism was born of a catastrophe on Earth — at Chornobyl, not far from the city where I made these works.

The work

MUTAGEN are the artist's concept organisms of Martian Futurism. They are made by hand from polymers, metal, red dust and fragments of buildings, then varnished. Created October 2025 – April 2026.

These artefacts were made in conditions of extreme danger to life: throughout the whole process the place where they were created came under missile and drone attacks. There was destruction, yet the artefacts survived. The dust of the explosions was cleaned from their surfaces, and the works were finally sealed in glass sarcophagi — like the reactor near which their prototype was born.

The bases of MUTAGEN are fragments of that very place — pieces of architecture broken off by the blast wave. These stones became a symbol of life where life can barely exist. And still, people go on creating new worlds.

The future

In the CHERNAMARS story, the mutagen is one of the main threats. When the atmosphere of Mars begins to thin, cosmic radiation will flood the planet again, making it deadly for life. For the mutagen, radiation is a catalyst: it grows violently and uncontrollably, and its evolution is unpredictable. In cities ruined by nuclear blasts and in the withering cadmium jungles, meeting a mutagen is an everyday thing.

This blackness moves.