Barrak Darweesh aka “Overgrown”

Berkeley, CA

Fairgrounds Project

Ballet of the Final Anthozoans, Mixed media: 3D printed and hand built ceramics, 3D printed bioplastic, acrylic, mylar, electronics 
Ballet of the Final Anthozoans is an immersive installation that choreographs the wondrous phenomenon of coral spawning. With the backbone of our ecosystem in decline with humans to blame, these Final Anthozoans find themselves flipped upside down in a world of imbalance. Due to global warming, pollution and other human-created catastrophes, coral spawning is becoming less and less successful, adding to the cumulative decline of our coral reefs. Ballet of the Final Anthozoans acts as both a tribute and a warning: we must protect these delicate environments, or else bear witness to their last dance. The egg within coral spawning alludes to cyclicality, a common theme in OVERGROWN’s work. Upon viewing, the participant is faced with an alluring space that plays with depth and perception to lend an expansive underwater atmosphere. Programmed to respond to presence, the sculpture secretes ephemeral floating white spawn tempting viewers to reach out to interact with the bubbles, potentially popping them as a symbol of human nature’s inadvertent impacts.

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