“Follies” emerged as a distinct architectural category in 18th- and 19th-century Europe. Often modeled after imagined ruins of ancient Rome, Greece, or Egypt, they were designed to evoke a sense of historical grandeur, picturesque decay, or cultural aspiration rather than to serve any utilitarian purpose. Today’s built environment speaks in an “eclectic language”, a diffuse mix of diluted stylistic references drawn from multiple periods. These superficial references coexist within a stark infrastructural backdrop of painted concrete, metal signage, blacktop, and gravel. Within this context, small pockets of vegetation appear almost incidentally, contributing to an environment that can feel visually fragmented, simultaneously striking and monotonous. 

Inspired by the notion of follies, but through the lens of present-day urban infrastructure, I sampled and referenced elements such as curbed traffic islands, bollards, and medians. I did not aim to reproduce these forms accurately or according to their intended functions, but to expand upon and reinterpret them into new structural compositions. When placed within real, seemingly unoccupied landscapes (the video component), they are imbued with a kind of mystical ambiguity, quietly vibrating against the backdrop of the contexts they were sampled from.