It's an art piece I've encountered several times. There should be no question as to its 'authenticity': I don't think it was ever intended to be
displayed as '
real alien plants.
The thing with the wide, wide internet is this;
Someone does something pretty: a CGI piece, or an experiment with a video camera. They post it to youtube, sometimes with a minor description of what
was done. Someone else encounters the work, and thinks, "Hmm. I wonder how many people I could fool with this." And with such thoughts, the latter
person reposts the video on another site; this time, with a fabricated blurb about its contents -- or sometimes, not at all.
Unfortunately, due to its sensational description (or the lack thereof), the reposted video(s) may get more attention than the original.
Research uncovered that the video was made by
1st Ave Machine, an NYC-based CGI VFX/animation studio. As the
video is not associated with anything else, my guess is that it was just a project created by the company, which later gained immense popularity on
the web.
[edit on 12/24/2007 by Mr Jackdaw]
