THE ROOTS ARE THE BATTERY

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

Signal Festival 2022
Gallery installation at Kunsthalle Prague
Design & Production: Zünc Studio

Framed from a low angle, the absence of soil provides a novel view of branching roots. The intertwining limbs with their crooked fingers twinkle in the sunlight that weaves through from above. The roots are rendered as hundreds of thousands of multicoloured particles, packed together to bejewel the usually dirt-covered structure. It rotates slowly and constantly, allowing us to marvel at this otherwise unseen part of the plant. Light beams that run along the spines of the smallest roots charge inwards and upwards, a quiet, constant pulse that moves what it absorbs and what it stores. Referencing the functional importance of roots, the light animation highlights the storage of energies created through photosynthesis, as well as the transfer of nutrients that travel from the earth to the rest of the plant.

Celebrating the 10th year of Prague’s annual festival of digital creative culture, we were invited to contribute a series of works to be displayed at the newly opened Kunsthalle gallery. PHOTOSYSTEM II is a 6-piece series of animated video , first shown during the 4-day festival and then extended to be on display at Kunsthalle for 2 additional months. We created a series of works driven by our fascination with the process of photosynthesis, with each piece posing new interpretations and musings of the power of plants.