Arabidopsis Symphony, Augmented Reality Experience Original

https://superposition.cc/project/arabidopsis-symphony

Arabidopsis Symphony uses augmented reality, generative music, and real-time local data to visualize the invisible processes of a plant into an immersive augmented reality experience.

Arabidopsis Symphony shows us that there is more to a simple plant than meets the human eye. In this augmented reality experience visitors dive into the inner world of the ‘Arabidopsis Thaliana’ — an inconspicuous plant that exists all around the world, but grows and develops differently due to local climate, weather and soil conditions. Through complex adaptations in genes and hormones, the Arabidopsis Thaliana directly responds to changes in its environment (day or night, rain or sunshine). For this reason, it is the ‘lab rat’ among plants.

These invisible processes feed into an immersive experience that tells us: plants are not that different from humans after all — we are all part of the same ecosystem. The artwork combines augmented reality with an ever-changing musical composition. Walk through a field of human-sized plants while witnessing how real-time environmental changes impact their growth. The experience is unique every time and everywhere: a rainy night in Georgia will look and sound completely different from a sunny afternoon in Vienna. Come back again, and discover a new environment-based composition.

At the basis of Arabidopsis Symphony lies extensive scientific research by Sander van der Krol from Wageningen University (Netherlands), who meticulously monitors everything that happens inside his Arabidopsis Thaliana plants. Based on his findings, Superposition developed a digital model of the plant that reacts to variables like sunshine, temperature and rain. Using this model, a virtual version of the plant can be grown based on local conditions. The virtual plants are scaled up and projected in augmented reality at a specific place, like a public square or a museum, for the audience to explore.