Electronic Ginseng 2.0:
Electronic laser-cut wood sculpture with Arduino, servo motors and narrative interface coded in Processing.
The harvesting and sale of American ginseng challenges an east >>>toward west production and trade model. In Chinese medicine, American Ginseng has a calming effect to balance its Yang cousin, Asian ginseng. Cultivation and trade industries have grown around the demand for both types of ginseng.
The American ginseng plant grows wild in Appalachia and has served as sole or supplemental income for generations of families. The wild plant can be elusive and is thought to evade discovery and harvest. This project concerns ginseng's tricky biological, mythologoical and economic lore. Electronic Ginseng 2.0 follows the artist's 2013 Electronic Ginseng.
Exhibition and Support:
This work was created for the Interactions Gallery, 2017 British HCI Conference at the University of Sunderland. It was developed at UNC Asheville's STEAM Studio at RAMP.
Electronic Ginseng 2.0 was displayed at Revolve Gallery in Asheville, NC in January - February 2020 as part of Tiger Strikes Asteroid Greenville's Redirect Exhibition, curated by Suzanne Dittenber.
Redirect was reviewed in Burnaway by Kate Averett: "Slow Connection: TSA GVL presents REDIRECT in Asheville", February 13, 2020.