RhiZone[PapiLLa]

EPIZONE[NULL] PapiLLa Joanna Hoffmann Soundscape: Andre Bartetzki



EpiZone[NULL]: PapiLLa VR environment /multisensorial installation Joanna Hoffmann Soundscape: Andre Bartetzki in the colaboration with the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences; Prof. Eliza Wyszko’s Laboratory of Subcellular Analyses

EpiZone[NULL]: PapiLLa The piece is the continuation of EpiZone [NULL] , bridging two long-term projects: EpiMimesis & Rhizosphere: The Big network of Small Worlds The prefix epi- refers to the impact of the environment on an individual set of data. The term mimesis suggests a creative interpretation or modeling of nature: looking not only for that what “is” or “was”, but for what is likely or possible. Abstract: EpiZone [NULL]: PapiLLa questions the essence of human identity in the world where organic and inorganic systems will merge into a new hybrid whole of Big Data processing. What will happen when the Internet of Everything will turn into the Internet of Minds?

Inspired by symbiotic natural systems of Wood Wide Web the multi-sensual poetic narrative of EpiZone[NULL]: PapiLLa immerses the viewer in a complex, multi-dimensional semi-biological information network in which the boundaries between micro and macro systems, between \"internal\" and \"external\" data processing are blurred. The piece is designed as an immersive installation combining Virtual Reality technologies with a multi-sensual environment. The title refers to biological nodular formations often associated with the senses of touch, taste or smell, as well as with the organs of symbiosis between plants and bacteria (root nodules). PapiLLa PapiLLa is a micro-component of the future hybrid omni-system (EpiMimesis). It is an fictive sensory organ, a hybrid area in which the viewer's feelings and imagination are entangled in the invigorating web of sympoiesis. The elusive threads of personal data processing like invasive threads of Rhizobium, connect PapiLLa with a imaginary structure devoid of spatial and temporal boundaries.

}} { you _exist_as = dust of_my~[Omni]memory; } which is_stronger > than [Time]* stronger > than [Death]* ~(--i>=0){ {

In VR environement, the viewer is slowly \"captured\" in the form of LapiLLa, a virtual cocoon created by a densifying data network. The evolving audio-visual narrative creates a complex multi-layered system in which cellular structures are intertwined with webs of urban connections. In the world where \"all is data\" the boundaries between micro and macro scales, between internal and external data processing are blurred.





We are increasingly aware of the fact that the structure of our reality is based on dynamic interactive data networks, from neural connections to galactic webs, from river basins to so- cial, economic and cultural phenomena. Every microsecond, countless interactions link all levels of our networked world.

At the end of the 20th century, thanks to new technologies, scientists managed to penetrate the underground root zone and discover extremely effective, extensive signaling and redistribution networks that can survive for many thousands of years. The rhizosphere system, based on symbiosis, diversity and interdependence, connects the plant world with the kingdoms of bacteria, microorganisms and mycorrhizal fungi. Due to its integrity, breadth and efficiency, this system has been called the \"Wood Wide Web\". Research on the plant WWW, social and communication strategies of plants, radically change the understanding of processes occurring in the natural environment. In the face of global crises, challenges and new perspectives that are opening up for our civilization, it is worth drawing from the wisdom of nature and strategies of plants . By developing algorithms connecting carbon-based organic life with silicon-based intelligent systems, it is worth emphasizing that it was the symbiotic processes that allowed plants to come out of the water and colonize the land. It depends on us whether we will become only chips in totalitarian, corporate structures managed by artificial intelligence or create the germ of the next great \"revolution of humanity\"...

epiZone[NULL]: PapiLLa inspiration—root nodules (papillae) Root nodules are an organ of symbiosis between plants and bacteria (Rhizobium). Bacteria bind atmospheric nitrogen (N2) in ammonia (NH3) available to plants. From it, plants get the building material for the formation of proteins, nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), ATP energy molecules and other cellular components, i.e. vitamins, flavones, hormones, etc. In turn, the carbohydrates produced by the plant in the process of photosynthesis are the main source of carbon for bacteria. The process of forming a nodule: The root secretes flavonoid particles into the soil, which are attractants for bacteria. They activate the expression of the nod gene in bacteria. The nod factor produced by bacteria stimulates the division of cells of the primary cortex of the root and the wrapping of hairs around the Rhizobium, which leads to the development of the structure of the root papilla. Eventually, an endocytosis infection occurs. (Bacterial enzymes break down cellulose and other components of the cell wall.) As a result, bacterial cells are closed in a vesicle made of plant cell membranes. The peribacteroid membrane protects the infected cell against negative bacterial influences. The position and number of nodules is tightly regulated by the exchange of signals between the bacterial organism and the plant.

source Leguminosae. In Engelmann (ed.): Natürliche Pflanzenfamilien. Vol. III, 3. Paul Hermann Wilhelm Taubert (1862-1897) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faboideae_root_nodules_Taub42.png

PapiLLa It is also the name of biological spheroidal formations often associated with the senses of touch, taste, or smell. For example, dermal papilae are small projections (or stretch marks) of the dermis that connect it to the epidermis. On the surface of the skin of the fingers, they appear in the form of protrusions, colloquially called fingerprints The blood vessels in the papillae supply nutrients and oxygen to the lower layers of the epidermal cells. The pattern of the papillae distribution (fingerprint) is partly genetically determined. It develops before birth and remains unchanged (except in size) throughout life. Skin papillae (fingerprints) are used to amplify the vibrations generated by touching the surface and transmitted to the sensory nerves. (They also help grip slippery surfaces.)

Henry Gray (1918) Anatomy of the Human BodyBartleby.com: Gray's Anatomy, Plate 936 Illustrator: Henry Vandyke Carter https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray936.png



The participant is placed in a special hammock-cocoon through which the vibrations of the soundtrack can be sensed.

Another sensation added with the VR experience is petrichor, the smell of earth after rain, produced by soil bacteria. It is made of geosmin, a chemical compound produced by bacteria of the genus Streptomyces present in the soil. The name \"petrichor\" comes from the Greek language and is a combination of the two words \"petra\" (stone) and \"ichor\", which in Greek mythology means a substance that flows in the veins of gods. Our particular sensitivity to this smell is probably due to its combination with rain, which determines the success of crops and thus survival. In the installation, petrichor is contained in volcanic lapillas that are woven into a hammock-cocoon and which participants can pick up and touch.



Fragments & details of VR narrative



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At the end of VR narrative PapiLLa takes the form of a virtual eye, through which the viewer can see the „outside”.



PapiLLa is the continuation of EpiZone [NULL] project, bridging two long-term projects: EpiMimesis & Rhizosphere: The Big network of Small Worlds Epizone[NULL]: PapiLLa www.johoffmann.com www.bartetzki.de with the support of: Institute of Biochemistry of Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznan Faculty of Biology , UAM University in Poznan University of Arts in Poznan FASSF / Art & Science Node in Berlin

GLOBAL AR project - draft Development of EpiZone[NULL]: PapiLLa Rhizosphere the Big Network of Small Worlds / EpiMimesis