Polar Rainbow vs FungiSync

Polar Rainbow, by the artist Kristaps Ancāns, is an Augmented Reality sculpture of a virtual double rainbow, which connects the North and South poles where rainbows don’t exist. The Polar Rainbow is rotated around the globe and finds temporary destinations where it is necessary to intervene. It connects us across actual time and space—signifying new beginnings, evolution and support as well as indicating togetherness and equality so that we never lose our joy and inspiration.

*Device Compatibility: iPhone Pro (LiDAR-enabled) is required for this mixed reality app. *For the collocated multiplayer "handshake" experience: All phones need to be connected to the same home Wi-Fi 6 router. Set up the IP address of the server iPhone as the host IP address for both phones (IP address can be obtained in the Wi-Fi information on the phone). When connected, use the QR code image in the preview to anchor the location of all phones. Don't move the QR code during the experience session. The QR anchor code performs best at the size of 15x15cm. Project introduction: This app serves for the mixed reality participatory ritual artwork "FungiSync" first presented at DevCon 2024. In this experience, participants wear handheld, masquerade-style mushroom-decorated mixed reality masks. Each mask embodies a unique, psychedelic-like augmented view—a metaphor for technology-mediated pluriversal worldviews. Through handshakes, our most ancient protocol, participants sync, blend, and exchange distinct perspectives in mixed reality, mirroring the underground resource exchange of mycorrhizal networks' "Wood Wide Web." This artwork highlights how decentralized technology, such as Ethereum networks, can play a role in interweaving our increasingly fragmented world accelerated by centralized institutions' controlled ideology and technology. Utilizing HoloKit to transfer the iPhone into an immersive MR headset, this art experience brings actor-network theory to life through embodied experience, celebrating the interdependent collaboration of infinite worlds bonded by a decentralized web. It fosters a mycological-inspired entanglement awareness in today's deglobalizing world. Let's celebrate Mycopunks!