Like his other stainless-steel sculptures installed throughout the world, Roxy Paine refers to his sculpture Ferment as a Dendroid. The term derives from "dendrite," which means branching—not just the branching of trees, but also river deltas, vascular systems and neural networks. Fermentation involves the breaking down of one thing and the creation of another in a dynamic process of transformation. Ferment came into being through a conceptual and mechanical process of breaking down and reconfiguring amid great mental and physical turbulence. It arrived in pieces and was transformed into a magnificent work of art in the Kansas City Sculpture Park.