How to Scale Laterally: Living Mycelial Clothing as a Horizontal Research Methodology

I propose the term lateral research to establish the value of small daily actions of multispecies relating. I suggest that although this scale and strategy of action is often overlooked and undervalued, it has the potential to synthesize disparate multispecies approaches such as pleasure activism (brown) and ecosexuality (Sprinkle and Stephens) with pragmatic concepts of care (Andreotti, Bird Rose, Hicks), ecological education (Facer, Hicks) and multispecies collective action (Andreotti, Peirotti). Instead of asking artists, cultural producers and eco-designers “But, how does it scale up?” I propose the better query for assessment is “And, how does it scale laterally?” Lateral iterations of relatedness can lead to accessible, engaged narrative and educational spaces and a transformation of research methodologies. These strategies and spaces may be understood as low-stakes processes and sites where we can unlearn the habits of individualism, process grief and anger, practice greater interspecies awareness, employ critical hope, and create the daily patterns of care needed in these troubled times (Bird Rose, Facer, Hicks, Ojala).