about
eternal-fungi is an art project by Christian Werner, a foundry artist based in Lower Saxony, Germany, whose practice is nourished by a deep fascination with fungi and traditional craftsmanship. Since the Covid pandemic he has patiently taught himself metalworking and casting techniques, turning quiet years of observing the forest into sculptures that echo the precision of nature as closely as possible. In each work, nature remains the true author; Werner lends it weight and time, casting fleeting, fragile forms into bronze so they can linger long after the mushrooms themselves have disappeared.
mission
At the heart of this practice lies the idea of giving mushrooms a life far beyond their brief appearance on the forest floor. Werner chooses individual specimens that already carry their own stories: caps nibbled by snails, stems twisted by wind, fruiting bodies collapsing back into decay. None of them is perfect, and precisely in this imperfection he finds character, time, and vulnerability worth preserving.
vision
Mushrooms are mythical beings, neither plant nor animal, yet biologically closer to animals, long treated with suspicion and fear in many cultures. They appear overnight, vanish just as quickly, nourish us, expand our minds, or quietly poison us. By casting these fragile, short‑lived organisms in metal, Werner plays with the tension between vulnerability and permanence, allowing these flawed, weathered forest spirits to outlive their human observers.
