Video
Single channel video; Color; Sound; 4K; 12’11”.
The monologue of a spore
In The Spore Monologue, artist Long Pan gives voice to an unlikely narrator — a spore. This minute, typically a single-celled reproductive unit, common to lower plants and fungi, becomes the guide through a richly layered tale set in Yunnan, China — one of Eurasia’s most biodiverse regions and a site of intense mining activity.
By shifting the agency of speech to the microscopic, Pan invites us to adopt a botanical gaze and imagine a form of plant-consciousness. The spore’s voice invites us into an unseen world often dismissed for being too small or too distant from human concerns. It introduces its surroundings: mountains, mining trucks, metallic ore deposits — and the spiritual presence of mountain deities. There, lush ecosystems coexist with extractive economies, revealing a landscape shaped by competing forces of survival, reverence, and exploitation.
Pan’s film was inspired by her research into the trade routes of the matsutake mushroom. Along the way, she learned of sacred mountains leased to mining corporations and of fungi acting as natural defenders, filtering contaminants from the soil. In this shifting terrain, binaries of victim and oppressor begin to dissolve into a dense web of entanglement.
Through evocative narration and imagery, The Spore Monologue reframes geology as more than science — as story, memory, and consequence. It asks us to listen differently, to recognise the resilience of life forms often ignored, and to reimagine our relationship with the natural world not as dominators, but as entangled participants.
- Written by Taous Dahmani, Curator.
This particular spore is rooted in a rural region of Yunnan, China — one of Eurasia’s most biodiverse areas. From its humble vantage point, it observes the surrounding mountains, mining sites, and the constant rumble of passing trucks. The region is also rich in metallic ore deposits, including copper and silver, making it a site of intense extractive activity.
Shot while tracing trade routes of the matsutake mushroom, Pan learned that villagers had “rented” their sacred mountain to mining corporations. As extraction encroaches on forests, the mushrooms — fragile yet resilient — act as quiet guardians, helping shield ecosystems from heavy metal contamination. In this delicate balance, the binary of victim and oppressor dissolves into a complex, entangled struggle for survival.
Through layered imagery and narration, The Spore Monologue explores tensions between ecological systems and resource extraction, environmental justice and economic pressure, rapid industrialisation and enduring spiritual belief — including reverence for mountain deities. By giving voice to the spore, Pan asks us to reconsider what it means to listen to the small, and to care for it.
This fictional tale re-enchants a landscape too often viewed solely through the lens of exploitation. It invites us to think of geology not only as a science of the earth’s structure, but as a narrative — one shaped by time, extraction, and human intervention. A student of fungi, Pan draws inspiration from their resistance and resilience. In The Spore Monologue, she turns her gaze underground, to the mycorrhizal networks, mining tunnels, root systems, and spiritual realms that converge beneath the surface of Yunnan. As Pan puts it, the film seeks to “reveal the hidden yet tangible networks that connect all things.”