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UW-Stout Transmedia Studio,
Mycorrhizae

We as a species share a symbiotic relationship with every other living plant and creature on Earth. The interconnectedness of plant communication echoes the practical and abstract binding of our economies and our Internet. This illuminated, polymorphic installation visually represents the way in which plants transmit chemical messages to one another; it charges the negative space between park trees, acting as an extrusion of the mycorrhizal fungi (a fungi that that is benignly hosted in plant roots, thereby connecting the plants in an underground network or “Wood Wide Web”) in this soil below. A place to meander, visitors are encouraged to physically engage with the modules. By pushing/pulling the fibrous projection surfaces, or engaging simple machines with lenses that manipulate the output of fixed lighting, the viewer enters the dialogue. A projection-mapped animation anchors the grouping, completing the impression of sentience and vitality. Both the animation and the modular structures share generative patterns derived from tree species on site. The frames and fibers of the modules are constructed of up-cycled or recyclable materials; accent lighting is solar powered. The project was designed and fabricated by the University of Wisconsin-Stout School of Art & Design’s Transmedia Studio, comprised of 14 students

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UW-Stout’s Transmedia Studio combined the skills of student animators, filmmakers, game designers, illustrators, industrial designers, sculptors and was taught by an architect. This advanced studio reunites students who collaborated in foundations courses, but have now developed technical expertise and conceptual rigor in their respective fields.

Co-Designers:

Abby Anderson
Greg Borman
Megan Daniels
Kelly Goedeke
Alex Greene
Jack Haessly
Samantha Kufahl
Austin Lewer
Curtis Leszczynski
Laura Bernadette Meeker
William Rutter
Peter Sowinski
Tyler Straka
Collin Stremke
Michael Swearingen
Walter Trush

Assistant Professor: Kimberly Long Loken

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Site(s)

The Commons - U.S. Bank Stadium Portland Ave & 5th St.

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Hashtag

#Mycorrhizae

Action Hashtag

#mindtheroots
UW-Stout Transmedia Studio
(works) Menomonie, WI
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