[R]ed[U]x Lab Returns to Grop-Op with Terrena

Though the winter of the New Year puts the planting of the spring far from our minds, this April the [R]ed[U]x Lab will once again return to the Gladstone Hotel to exhibit Terrena at the 2016 Grow Op event. Always experimenting with new media and unconventional ideas, Terrena proposes an installation that hovers in the middle of a room whereby users can see the often hidden (but nonetheless intricate) network of roots from below. If it were easy, it would not be worth doing.

In the words of the team:

"The project will be installed as a part of the 2016 Gladstone Hotel GrowOp exhibition that celebrates landscape, gardens, art, and placemaking. Terrena’s surface is a manmade landscape made of modular plants that takes precedent from the topography of the historical Toronto Ravines. Our installation, Terrena, creates a unique experience for visitors through procession, as the installation will be placed above, underneath and at eyelevel to the visitor as they process. In addition, the installation reveals the underside of the plants, exposing the root systems to the visitors. Visitors can physically and visually experience the underlying system that allows nature to prevail over and through manmade landscapes. The installation celebrates the rootal systems that are usually unseen. 

The project will give insight to visitors about the complexity of the root system as well as the persistence and prevalence of nature over our manmade landscapes. The overgrowth and overarching of the plants over the infrastructure will exemplify the idea that nature cannot be controlled despite our efforts. The venue is the alcove/lobby space of the 2nd floor at the Gladstone Hotel. The installation will consist of modular pieces put together to create a whole. The installation will be selfsupporting with light supporting elements to appear as if it is floating."

Toronto Design Offsite 2016: 325 Church Street: STRATATONE

Society has become defined by webs of communication. Never before has a message been as widely distributed as has recently been allowed by modern technology. With this distribution comes distortion. A message becomes more abstracted the more people pass it along; an inevitable case of broken telephone. Stratatone replicates this concept. A pattern (the message) should be simple to repeat, yet as the commotion of those around it increases it becomes distorted; moving, growing, shrinking.

The project consists of two stepper motors per drawing surface. A base code runs the pattern which in a perfectly silent space would remain constant. As people traverse the surrounding area, noise peaks amplify the form and create a unique image over the course of time.