Flight of the Dandelion
Timelapse Photography, CT Scans, 3D Modeling, Digital Craft.
The Secret of Unseen Journeys
Flight of the Dandelion is an exquisite exploration into the hidden world of the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). Often dismissed as a simple weed, this project unveils the plant's astonishing resilience, the profound beauty of its intricate structures, and a never-before-seen method of flight, discovered through cross-disciplinary art and scientific collaboration.
Through a mesmerizing fusion of timelapse photography, advanced scanning, and 3D modeling, this work invites viewers to peer into the microscopic, revealing the dandelion's profound intelligence and the unseen forces of air that govern its journey. It transforms the mundane into the miraculous, challenging our perceptions of value and revealing the extraordinary beauty that exists just beyond our sight.
Video/Timelapse: An individual dandelion seed reacting to moisture within a custom humidity chamber, revealing its minute-by-minute responses.
The Discovery: Nature's New Flight Method
My journey with the dandelion began in the Biology Form and Function Lab, where I delved into the plant's seemingly simple seed. What began as artistic experimentation and rigorous scientific inquiry culminated in a groundbreaking discovery: a novel method of flight, previously unobserved in nature. This pivotal research, to which my artwork and experiments contributed, was published in the world-leading journal, Nature (Cummins, C., Seale, M., Macente, A. et al. A separated vortex ring underlies the flight of the dandelion. Nature 562, 414–418 (2018 )https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0604-2 ).
To reveal more of the dandelion's secrets, the delicate pappus filaments were painted in gold. This allowed the fragile structures, so often overlooked, to become visible to lasers for CT scanning. The resulting 3D models expose the stunning complexity of its form, transforming it from a common "weed" into a testament to nature's engineering brilliance. This process highlights how deeply we can learn from nature, finding inspiration for how we might design our own technologies.
The Golden Seed
Micro-Cosmos of Flight Gold-plated Taraxacum officinale, Scanning Technology. 3D Visualization / Immersive Experience.
This piece invites you into an extraordinary, otherwise invisible world: the micro-cosmos of a single dandelion seed, immortalized in gold. Using advanced scanning of a gold-plated Taraxacum officinale seed, this 3D visualization reveals the breathtaking intricacy of its filaments and structural details.
More than a static image, this is a dynamic exploration, allowing you to move through and around the seed's complex architecture, perceiving its delicate strength from every angle. It's an intimate journey into the unseen engineering of nature, transforming the mundane into a golden revelation.
(For galleries/exhibitions, this piece is also available as an immersive Virtual Reality experience, offering an even deeper dive into the dandelion's hidden universe.)
Materiality & Transformation: A Dialogue with Air and Life
This work delves into the concept of materiality -how something as seemingly fragile and ethereal as a dandelion seed's pappus can possess incredible strength and adaptability at a micro-structural level. Through custom-built experimental humidity chambers, I captured the dandelion's subtle, dynamic responses to moisture in the air. These timelapses reveal its hydrophobic qualities, a graceful dance of opening and closing that hints at the plant's own sophisticated strategies for dispersal and survival.
Sometimes, with the release of tiny water droplets, a minute change over 35 minutes transforms the fluffy pappus into upright filaments, as if it's gently exhaling or closing.
Inspired by pioneering research into plant consciousness and sensory perception, Flight of the Dandelion invites you to consider the invisible currents we move within, and how these unseen forces shape life's subtle migrations. By choosing to look closer, to truly listen, new worlds are revealed, transforming our understanding of the diverse life on our planet.
The act of immortalizing the dandelion in gold, a material universally associated with immense value, challenges our preconceived notions. How can something so often dismissed as a pest possess such inherent worth? When we seek to understand, when we truly see, value emerges—a profound shift in perspective that encourages us to cherish all life forms on our living planet.
