Joanna Hoffmann

RHIZOSPHERE


RHIZONE: [PapiLLa]

soundscape - Andre Bartetzki (www.bartetzki.de)
VR narrative, 3DS projection and AR application
 
Advances in the natural sciences fundamentally change our understanding of natural processes, forcing us to redefine the basic concepts underlying the cultural paradigms that determine our perception of our place and role in the ever-evolving Great Web of Life and consequently our attitudes and actions. Though RhiZone: [Papilla] is an autonomous artwork, it belongs to the RHIZONES series and is associated to the project: Rhizosphere: The Big Networks of Small Worlds.
 
 
 
RhiZone title: [PapiLLa] refers to biological spherical formations often associated with our senses - touch, taste or smell (fingerprints, taste warts etc.) as well as to root nodules - symbiotic organs between plant roots and bacteria (rhizobia). In both cases, they are centers of intensive information flow between the internal and external environment of the organism.
In my work, papilla takes on a new meaning: it is a microcomponent of an imaginary omni-system, a holobiotic network merging organic and inorganic systems into a single whole.
[Papilla] is an information node of this network, that stores, processes and transforms data connecting various layers of our reality.

In RhiZone: [Papilla] the viewer is placed in the center of a spherical earth-like formation, intersected by communication lines, resembling hyphae of mycelium that decompose matter. The cracked, corroded earth hides the memory of our civilization whose data is processed in the tissues of the metabolizing world. Everything is decomposed and transformed, and this transformation gives rise to new configurations and endless possibilities.