Carsten Höller
Mushroom Suitcase, 2008

Artist
Carsten Höller

Title
Mushroom Suitcase

Year of creation
2008

Technology and dimensions
Mushroom replicas in an aluminum case, 19 x 55 x 38 cm

Year of acquisition
2012

The suitcase can be taken into the forest to place the mushrooms, which rotate using photovoltaic power, so that they appear to have grown naturally in order to drive the random passerby crazy. The fly agaric's velum flakes have been replaced by small pieces of mirror, based on the lark's mirror, a rotating double wing covered in mirrors that is used by hunters in the fall to attract migrating skylarks, which sting on this device for unknown reasons.

The first mushroom case was completed in 1996 and has been further improved since then. While the early mushrooms were still formed by hand, the mushrooms from 1998 onwards are hand-made casts made of polyurethane, which, due to their lightness, rotate even in low sunlight. Since 2009, the mushroom molds used have been casts of wild toadstools.