White Fungus is an art magazine and project based in Taichung City, Taiwan. Founded by brothers Ron and Mark Hanson in Wellington, New Zealand, in 2004, as a quasi-political manifesto, copies of the first issue were produced on a photocopier, wrapped in Christmas paper and hurled anonymously through the entrances of businesses throughout the city. Now a magazine featuring interviews, writing on art, new music, history and politics, White Fungus takes a dialogical approach to the work it covers. The name of the publication comes from a can of “white fungus” the Hansons found in their local supermarket in the industrial zone of Taichung City. Each cover of White Fungus is derived from a scan of the can.
White Fungus has held interdisciplinary art events at galleries and venues including P.P.O.W. (New York), Kadist Art Foundation (San Francisco), N.K. (Berlin), The Lab (San Francisco), SOUP (Tokyo), Zajia Lab (Beijing), XXX (Hong Kong), Taipei Contemporary Art Center, the Cube (Taipei), Treasure Hill (Taipei), VT Artsalon (Taipei), ARTSPACE (Auckland), Waikato Museum (Hamilton), Adam Art Gallery (Wellington), Enjoy Public Gallery(Wellington), and The Physics Room(Christchurch). The publication is held in library collections including The Museum of Modern Art (New York), The New York Public Library (Art & Architecture Collection), The Southbank Centre (London), Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Taipei Fine Art Museum, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, National Library of Australia and Te Papa Tongarewa (National Museum of New Zealand). The magazine has included articles by notable New Zealand art writers and artists, including Tao Wells.
White Fungus was part of the exhibition Millennium Magazines at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2012. The exhibition was a survey of magazines made by contemporary artists since 2000. In November 2012, White Fungus founders Ron Hanson and Mark Hanson gave a talk about the history of White Fungus at Times Museum in Guangzhou, China. In 2013 White Fungus was the magazine in residence at Kadist Art Foundation in San Francisco. While in the Bay Area, White Fungus released its 13th issue with events at Kadist and the Lab. The issue includes an article entitled 'The First Woman on Mars', written by American writer and independent scholar Ron Drummond. In late 2013 White Fungus signed a worldwide distribution deal with WhiteCirc in London.
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