Joanna Hoffmann

RHIZOSPHERE

RHI-ZONES series is inspired by research into the vast networks of the rhizosphere - symbiotic relationships between plant roots, fungi and microorganisms. Based on symbiosis, diversity, and interdependence, these networks have evolved over millions of years securing the evolutionary success as well as sustainable growth and survival of all stakeholders. Scientific research on the communication strategies  based on the mathematical model of "small worlds network" not only directs us towards alternative social and economic solutions, but also breaks free from traditional thinking about biological entities, opening new ways of interpreting our ecosystems, and more broadly - our reality.
see also: Rhizosphere: The Big Network of Small Worlds project

As an artists, I imagined the world as an immense network of connections and interdependencies, a meta-rhizosphere, dynamic system of data processing bridging deep Past, Present and speculative Future(s), where organic and inorganic systems creates one living whole.
Rhi-Zones are nodes of this imagined network and kind of portals which allow me to explore its inner dynamics in order to deepen my understanding and to reflex on my  own contribution to the Beg Web of Beings.


RHI-ZONES
series of multimedia artworks, VR & AR narratives
key words: holobiosis, biodiversity, life, ecosystems, rhizosphere, identity, memory, interconnections, evolution, networks, organism, connections, data processing, self-organization, inteligent systems, scaling




The progress in natural sciences makes us realize that the structure of our reality is based on dynamic networks of data flows. From the nervous system to the world wide web, from river backwaters to social and economic phenomena: in every microsecond, countless interactions connect all levels of our networked world. This new dynamic model of reality forces us to redefine our cultural paradigms that designate our place and role in the Great Web of Being and determine our individual and collective behaviors and actions, and consequently the future of us and our planet.
The basis of cultural change is the recognition that life on Earth is a planetary phenomenon and that each of us is an integral part of it. It implies a change in the current perspective of external observers and "managers" and placing ourselves inside our ecosystem and see what is more than human about us.
However, it is difficult to do this only with scientific methods, because they are based on external observation and deduction.
As an artist,  I asked myself how can I change the perspective of my experience, to look from within, shift the center of gravity, to feel mySelf as a network of relations, as a constatly evolving algorithm of life.

This planetary (universal?) holobiosis emerges and develops on the basis of the genetic-informatic architecture of the planet, as a consequence of the information transformation processes that have been taking place on Earth for billions of years. Everything that exists is part of a networked world that constantly expands its memory,  a universe in which no information is lost ...
Each of us contributes to this boundless network of interdependences, of past and future algorithms of life..


RhiZones take the viewer inside this visionary network.
     
             
       
      RHIZONE: [M-OTHER] RHIZONE: [PAPILLA]
           
         
      RHIZONE: [SPORE]    
           
      public presentations / exhibitions
RhiZosphere: SPUN Expedition. Fungi Hotspots of the Carpathians, Curators' Lab Gallery, Poznań 2024
The Forest becomes a Choir, Kommunale Galerie, Berlin, June-August, 2023
Metagenomes of Different Environments, Lublin Conference Center, Lublin, June 2023

Our Bio-Tech Planet: Future of Plants & Humans, Botanical Garden Rome, IT, October 2022
RhiZosphere: Organism, 10th anniversary of Polish Mycological Society, UAM University, Poznan, PL, September 2023
Our Bio-Tech Planet: Routes to Roots Networks & Beyond, Plant Biology Europe 2021, Turin, IT (RhiZone: [PapiLLa] vers1)
         
      exhibition presentation (variable) -VR narrative, 3D stereoscopic projection, VR stand with interactive light elements