Mushrooms, glitches and digital preservation of life forms
~ Rhea Barve
I made this video to accompany a song produced by Jack Helfrich. In this project Jack and I wanted to explore the spectrum of life, death and consciousness through the life cycle of oyster mushrooms. The oyster mushrooms were grown in the ceramic studio that I work in where I photographed them at different stages of growth over a week to create a series of photogrammetric 3D models using a software called Metashape.
Jack and I are fascinated by the ways in which mushrooms thrive in the gap between the biotic and the abiotic as they constantly grow on and amidst rot and decay. The digital preservation of the mushrooms through photogrammetric models seemed to further complicate the ways in which we experience a life form as being alive. Although the models are uncannily detailed and mathematically accurate for the most part, they are also riddled with imperfections, holes and glitches. We wanted to embrace the beauty of the glitches to reflect on the ways in which technology mediates our interactions with nature and to question and distort the truth of different types of representation. The glitchy 3D models are accompanied by musical samples which are distorted to varying degrees. ‘Artistic’ 2D animation is contrasted with ‘scientific’ photogrammetry; the music is intended to contrast and combine live guitar and programmed MIDI synths in a similar way.
Bio – Rhea Barve
I am a junior studying studio art and animation at New York University, and am currently interested in representing and recreating ecological networks through a combination of ceramics and 3D modelled forms. I hope to create physical, digital and hybrid gardens through my work.