THE EVIDENCE OF MOUNTAIN ROOT (2016)
The root of a mountain is a rock layer beneath it that proceeds underground and makes an extension downward reaching as far as 10-15 times the mountain height. Top part of the sculpture is a mountain range topography created using Google Earth imagery and machine-carved. Bottom part is an imaginary mountain root. This work is part of the Synthetic Landscapes series, which explores the environment as a fragmented conjunction of mediated experiences, cultural symbols, commercial and political icons.
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Evidence of Mountain Root was last shown at the Murmuration Festival for Art Science and Technology in collaboration with Michael Rees and won the Best Artwork Award. It involves an augmented realty feature available to the viewers through the Augment mobile-phone app. Using the app and directing their phone camera at the sculpture viewers see a semi-transparent layer of images added on top of the sculpture view. Tags activating the augmented reality feature are positioned on the surface of the sculpture, such that a viewer walking around the sculpture can sequentially move between the augments.
Photography by Meridith McKinley, Jane DiCampo, and Jim Diaz