2024《 Tu 》
👍👍👍2024 Taiwan Model Show Weei Cup – Figure Prototype Category – Finalist👍👍👍
■Creative Concept：
The prototype of this work originated from a creative exercise E began in 2021. Its initial inspiration came from everyday observations made while creating handmade toys for his daughter. Later, after reading an article about the “largest single living organism on Earth,” E learned about Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus that appears on the surface as scattered individual growths, while in reality its mycelium is connected underground, forming a vast and tightly interwoven living network.
From there, the concept evolved into an exploration of a life form in which “the individual is also the whole.” The work attempts to merge the connective nature of plant root systems with the hierarchical logic of ant colonies. Through the deconstruction and recombination of different biological traits, this piece experimentally constructs a species with an entirely new order of life, recording an ecological imagination that grew from a simple observation in daily life.
■ Background Setting：
This species is a highly evolved form of social fungus, with individuals displaying distinct animal-like mimicry. Within the colony, a strict hierarchical structure is formed, with three functionally different forms distributed from the center outward.
Its survival strategy combines the active aggression of individual organisms with the nutrient-sharing logic of a collective colony, creating a territorial system capable of continuous expansion. The habitat of this colony is constantly covered in a dense, intoxicating gas, referred to in local records as the “Mist Forest.”
Field records indicate that this gas possesses powerful anesthetic properties, causing any organism entering the area to quickly fall into a deep coma, eventually becoming a nutrient source for the colony’s expansion.
● Form Introduction:
● Form I: Outer Predator：A mobile individual with strong movement and jumping abilities. It patrols the outer edges of the territory and carries out hunting behavior. Once the prey loses mobility, the Predator implants parasitic spores into the host. After the spores absorb the host’s nutrients and fully decompose its body, the surrounding area is transformed into a new foundation for the colony’s outward expansion.
● Form II: Middle Watcher：A non-mobile individual fixed within the secondary outer layer of the colony. Its primary function is to continuously release hallucinogenic mist containing spores. Observations suggest that when these spores germinate in the soil, their early-stage form eventually develops into an Outer Predator with mobility and hunting capabilities.
● Form III: Core Hub：Located at the geographical center of the colony. This form may appear either as a single independent body or as a composite structure formed by multiple fused individuals. In essence, all Core Hubs are connected through a vast underground root-like network, forming a unified symbiotic mind. In addition to regulating the colony’s gas output and maintaining its ecological atmosphere, its physiological function is presumed to be equivalent to the operational center of the entire colony.
■ Creator: EWA - E
■ Work Number: 24EA01
■ Year: 2024
■ Size: 12 (W) * 14 (L) * 30 (H)
■ Material: Super Sculpey (Hard)
■ Quantity: 1
■ Sale Status: Not for Sale
● 2024 WEI-I Cup Prototype Category Entry — Finalist
