‘Artificial Superficial’ is an installation happening simultaneously in the digital and physical world. The initial point is a 3D-scanned tree root intertwined with concrete. These almost sculptural materials are part of a sidewalk in the Andean city of Quito. Next, the viewer is confronted with a video wall with an arch, where it’s possible to go through. Finally, a Virtual Reality Headset hangs at the other side of the projection wall, it lets the visitors experience the tree’s root and concrete as a landscape. The idea was born after walking next to a rooster in Quito, a place where nature and culture are not opposites.

This project reflects on the parallel life of non-human agents in a city. How diverse it can be from city to city, nevertheless, the rigid architectonical shapes exist and give the inhabitants guidelines on how to use the space. For example, a sidewalk is for walking. These stiff structures try to colonize the environment with sharp edges and straight lines ignoring other non-human agent’s needs, almost aggressively. Sometimes, the trees and other city inhabitants reclaim these spaces back.