Digital Specimens

At the beginning of the 19th century, humankind started collecting specimens that now help us understand the evolution of our planet. Samples of rocks, plants and organisms were brought back from historic voyages of discovery. These collections are now stored in museums and archives.

Five years ago, a new kind of geological survey emerged. Highly skilled 3D artists, scouted by Quixel, began travelling the world to capture specimens as three-dimensional digital objects — resulting in the largest collection of objects, plants, rocks and textures, used in game environments and film scenes. This collection exists only digitally, stored on servers and copied millions of times by users of Unreal Engine.

Digital Specimens is an installation containing 83 of the most diverse sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks. Every rock (or “asset” as digital artists call them) is embedded within one physical object, emphasising the uniqueness of a specimen that was translated from the physical to the digital realm.

Each rock was rendered as a looping video in Unreal Engine using Quixel assets. Individual small video players were built for each rock — custom hardware giving each one a physical body. Presented in the manner of natural history specimens in museum archives. PCB design by Jelle Reith.