Winslow Porter & Elie Zananiri, two veterans of numerous innovative immersive 3D projects, developed Forager. Porter, the creative director, is a director, producer, and creative technologist who has received numerous awards. He is a specialist in large-scale immersive installations and virtual/augmented reality. Zananiri, the technical director, is a creative developer who has received an Emmy award. He is an expert in the fields of virtual reality, graphical programming, and large-scale installations. Through immersive experiences and generative compositions, his work explores the issue of breaching social boundaries in public.

 

Forager is a multisensory virtual reality experience that envelops participants in the captivating world of fungi, fostering a profound connection with nature from a variety of perspectives. Participants observe the entire life cycle of mushrooms, from spores to mycelium, the fruiting body, and the inevitable decay, through the senses of sight, hearing, touch, and scent. This transformative voyage fosters an understanding of the interconnectedness of lifeforms and the wonders of the natural world on its own distinct time scale. They collaborated to create a technology that enables the capture, digitization, and replay of animated 3D sequences of mushroom growth, thereby enabling the public to observe the kingdom. Fungi in a manner that was previously impossible to observe with the unaided eye.

 

Mushrooms are an essential component of the life cycle that sustains all living organisms on Earth. The soil of ancient-growth forests is the key to human survival. Its fungi are essential for our survival, as they facilitate respiration, feed us, promote healing, and retain critical carbon in the soil. However, the extinction of these forests is jeopardizing the survival of both human and mycelial life. Discover the enchanting world beneath your feet by entering the VR work, Forager, and living the life of a fungus.

 

 

 

 

Our capacity to observe and comprehend the world around us has been significantly improved using time-lapse photography and photogrammetry. Nevertheless, these two methodologies have never been integrated. The initial endeavor to accomplish this is the Forager initiative. We created a software and hardware solution that combines these two techniques into time-lapse photogrammetry. We employed this solution to capture a diverse array of mushrooms as they grew and decayed over time. The weightlessness of a spore is experienced by participants, and custom fragrances are created to immerse the audience’s senses.