LAND AIR SEA: Infinity Burial Project, 2008-2019

The Infinity Burial Project is a transdisciplinary art and design project that examines modern funeral practices and offers alternative postmortem options that embrace natural decomposition and decay and the socio-cultural acceptance of death. Since its beginnings in 2008, the project has taken multiple forms including contemporary art, funeral planning and fungi workshops, documentary film, fashion/design, scientific research, and a venture-backed startup that made burial products for pets and people.

  • Coeio, Inc. collaborated with Zero Waste designer Daniel Silverstein to design the second prototype of the Mushroom Burial Suit.

  • Actor Luke Perry was buried in a Mushroom Burial Suit in 2019. Jae Rhim Lee spoke at Luke’s public memorial service at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, CA.

  • Coeio, Inc., the startup that formed from the Infinity Burial Project, buried its first research volunteer in Texas.

  • The Community Supported Funeral (CSF) is a cohort-based online learning program in which strangers co-design funerals for themselves or loved ones with the support of peer feedback and webinars with estate lawyers, death doulas, funeral directors, and cemetery owners.

  • Coeio produced the film “Suiting Dennis”about the first adopter of the Mushroom Burial Suit, Dennis White. See video below.

  • Coeio designed pet burial containers

  • Coeio, Inc. designed a new easy-wrap shroud

  • Coeio, Inc. presents the Mushroom Burial Suit at the Ace Hotel for New York Fashion Week

  • Jae Rhim Lee wins a Design for Death award at the National Funeral Directors Association Convention.

  • The Mushroom Burial Suit made its first public appearance at the Seamless: Computational Couture Show at the Museum of Science, Boston, 2008.

  • The Mushroom Burial Suit was included in the exhibit “Nature—Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Triennial” 2019/2020

  • Jae Rhim Lee presented a mycology workshop at Metamorf 2012: Dutch Electronic Art Festival.

Coeio’s first adopter, Dennis White of Woburn, Massachusetts, was buried in the fall of 2016 in a green cemetery in Maine. Prior to his death, the Coeio team worked with Dennis and his family to plan his green funeral, a journey that was partially documented in the film “Suiting Dennis,” produced by award-winning director Grace Lee (American Revolutionary, Janeane from Des Moines, the Grace Lee Project) and cinematographer Nadia Hallgren (Motherland, Trouble the Water, Trapped.)

PRESS + PUBLICATIONS

Sini, R. (2019) Would you get buried in a mushroom suit like Luke Perry? BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/ news/48140812 

Phifer, D. (2019) What is a Mushroom Burial Suit? Luke Perry’s Final Wishes Included Being Buried in One, His Daughter Says, Newsweek, https://www.newsweek.com/what-mushroom-burial-suit-luke-perrys-final- wishes-included-being-buried-one-1415363 

Pesce, Nicole Lyn. (2019) Luke Perry was buried in a mushroom suit — which could become a trend, Marketwatch.com, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-woman-who-made-luke-perrys-mushroom- burial-suit-is-shaking-up-the-death-care-market-2019-05-07 

Rogers, K. (2016) Mushroom Suits, Biodegradable Coffins and Death’s Green Frontier, New York Times, Business Day. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/business/mushroom-suits-biodegradable-urns-and- deaths-green-frontier.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0 

Sorenson, K. (2016) The Mushroom Suit Becomes a New Trend in Burials. NPR, Here and Now. http:// www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/08/18/mushroom-suit-burials 

Little, B. (2016) Creative Things to Do With a Dead Body. National Geographic. https:// news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160506-death-funeral-burial-cremation-conservation/ 

Peters, A. (2016) When You Die, This Mushroom Suit Will Eat Your Body. Fast Company. https:// www.fastcompany.com/3056243/when-you-die-this-mushroom-suit-will-eat-your-body 

Kwun, A. (2016) Go Green All the Way to the Grave in This “Mushroom Burial Suit” Dwell. https:// www.dwell.com/article/matter-of-life-and-death-614975ee 

Regensdorff, L. (2016) "Would You Wear a Mushroom-Powered Burial Suit?” Vogue. https:// www.vogue.com/article/infinity-burial-suit-mushrooms-green-design-jae-rhim-lee-coeio 

Bauer, U.M. & Trummer, T.D. (Eds.) (2014). AR—Artistic Research. Köln, Germany: Walther König. 

Galant, R. (2011) ‘Ninja pajamas’ or ‘mushroom death suit’? CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/20/opinion/ lee-mushroom-death-suit 

Doctorow, C. (2011) Bioartist training fungi to devour her when she dies. BoingBoing. http:// boingboing.net/2011/07/27/bioartist-training-fungi-to-devour-her-when-she-dies.html 

Wlizlo, W. (2011) The Sustainable Mushroom Death Suit. Utne Reader. https://www.utne.com/science-and- technology/sustainable-mushroom-death-suit-jae-rhim-lee#axzz2VPITH7HI 

George, A. (2011) Designing a mushroom death suit. New Scientist. http:// www.newscientist.com/blogs/ culturelab/2011/07/designing-a-mushroom-death-suit.html 

Rowan, D (2011) Report: TEDGlobal 2011, day 2: The Infinity Burial Project. Wired UK. http:// www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-07/14/tedglobal-day-2 

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