Synopsis
Trees evoke strong emotions in many people. They are the visible part of the forest. However, we are much less familiar with the fascinating world below the ground. According to scientists, we know more about the planet Mars than we do about what goes on below the ground surface of the forest. A forest is not a collection of individual, separate trees, it is actually a large living organism in which all the trees are interconnected.
Tree roots form complex networks underground with fungi. This mycorrhizal network - the cooperation between roots and fungi - enables the exchange of nutrients. The fungi also help trees to communicate with each other. They can warn each other of impending danger from gnawing insects. Old, healthy trees can also forward food to younger trees that lack something. This complex ecosystem also stores carbon and nitrogen compounds, helping to stabilize the climate. All these scientific insights make us look at the subsurface of forests in a different way.
With the help of VR, I want to give the participant access to this underground network. However, 'The Life Beneath Our Feet' wants to be more than just a visual experience. Thanks to other technologies like e.g. haptic suits and sleeves that enable EMS (electrical muscle stimulation), I want to make this VR a multi-sensory experience.
Together with three other participants, you become a link in this infinite network of roots and fungi. Thanks to the technology, you experience firsthand how nutrients flow through your "body"; how insects gnaw at your roots, and how seeping rainwater makes its way into deeper soil layers. Ultimately, you also experience what happens when the connection to this complex network is disconnected.
This VR aims to make an invisible and complex world accessible and understandable, so that the next time we walk through a forest, we will look differently at that hidden world beneath our feet. Because only what we understand can we really protect properly.
Tree roots form complex networks underground with fungi. This mycorrhizal network - the cooperation between roots and fungi - enables the exchange of nutrients. The fungi also help trees to communicate with each other. They can warn each other of impending danger from gnawing insects. Old, healthy trees can also forward food to younger trees that lack something. This complex ecosystem also stores carbon and nitrogen compounds, helping to stabilize the climate. All these scientific insights make us look at the subsurface of forests in a different way.
With the help of VR, I want to give the participant access to this underground network. However, 'The Life Beneath Our Feet' wants to be more than just a visual experience. Thanks to other technologies like e.g. haptic suits and sleeves that enable EMS (electrical muscle stimulation), I want to make this VR a multi-sensory experience.
Together with three other participants, you become a link in this infinite network of roots and fungi. Thanks to the technology, you experience firsthand how nutrients flow through your "body"; how insects gnaw at your roots, and how seeping rainwater makes its way into deeper soil layers. Ultimately, you also experience what happens when the connection to this complex network is disconnected.
This VR aims to make an invisible and complex world accessible and understandable, so that the next time we walk through a forest, we will look differently at that hidden world beneath our feet. Because only what we understand can we really protect properly.
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