A bio-textile constructed based on kombucha S.C.O.B.Y. (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) covers the rear façade of the Museo Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna. Textile production is one of the industries that generates the most environmental impact, in light of which the use of kombucha SCOBY –a biomaterial with a performance similar to leather— could lend itself for the fabrication of garments with non-contaminating life cycles. This material is produced by a symbiotic collaboration between fungus and bacteria that ferment the sugars of a pre/probiotic drink and excretes the biomaterial, which accumulates on the liquid’s surface.

The intervention of the rear entrance to the Museo Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna constitutes a double action: at the same time that a innovative material is added to the urban landscape, highlighting the pictorial and sculptural potential of spaces that have already been intervened by human beings, it also activates this building’s garden, presenting a reflection regarding habitation, the identity of our community, and the connection with nature regardless of the urban context. The alteration of diverse spaces within the city with elements of the Fungi Kingdom projects the individual conscience to a global one that, in a rhizomatic and mycelial way, reaches a fuller understanding of life’s dynamics, vulnerabilities, and beauty.