In this featured essay, Una MacGlone profiles the creation of the Ostoyae, a pioneering multi-species instrument by Maria Sappho, woven from AI, fungal bio-data, and human gesture. The article situates this hybrid project within a vision of dynamic sonic ecosystems, where mushroom mycelial networks generate real-time electrical data, AI (Chimère) interprets these patterns, and human performers activate sound through embodied improvisation.
MacGlone emphasises how the Ostoyae challenges conventional notions of instrumentality and authorship by enabling fungi to contribute sonically and conceptually alongside humans and machine systems. She positions Chimère as an ethically minded, community‑led AI that resists hierarchical data structures by foregrounding inclusive, artist-shaped training sets. The essay underscores your role in designing the Ostoyae’s interface, electrodermal sensors, feedback resonance, spatialised tuning, and explains how this performance instrument allows human and mushroom to co-activate sound in real time, offering a radical rethinking of virtuosity and co-authorship in artistic practice.