TANIGUCHI AKIHIKO

This work is a virtual photographic piece created by placing 3D plant models within Unity—a widely used game engine—and capturing them with an ultra-telephoto perspective to produce a flat, compressed image. With the rise of XR technologies and the growing use of virtual spaces for communication since the COVID-19 pandemic, our sense of reality has become increasingly layered and multifaceted.

For example, the virtual landscapes we encounter in video games or metaverse environments—constructed using 3D plant data—become part of our lived experience and memory.
These digital plants are modeled after real-world flora, but shaped by different requirements, they have evolved into distinct entities.

Designed to be easily replicated and to appear effective with minimal data and polygon counts, they possess unique forms and textures that resemble real plants but feel subtly different.
This work explores the relationship between these virtual organisms and new forms of reality that emerge through them.