To See the Forest for the Trees
This site-specific installation responds to the architecture of the Goucher College’s Bond Gallery and the surrounding landscape. The gallery space jutting out from the building is defined by three walls of windows, resembling a greenhouse. Using light to visualize the agency and communication of plants, trees grow through the ceiling surrounded by English Ivy vines threatening to take over.
Plants have the ability to relay information throughout their appendages using their vascular system in response to certain stimuli or threats much like our own nervous system. They are also able to communicate with other plants, even other species, through root and mycorrhizal networks underground. Illuminated Maple trees and English Ivy vines model these systems through pulsating light patterns as they occupy the gallery/greenhouse.
Electrical systems assistance provided by Andy Holtin