Interlaced with this living matrix is a network of custom‑built autonomous robots, each equipped with a single antenna and embedded AI sensing systems.

These machines listen, watch, and respond in real time to subtle shifts in the ecosystem while playing the sounds of insects commonly found within those environments.

The twitch of an isopod, a change in soil moisture, the presence of microbial metabolic cues—can trigger robotic movements, gestures, sound responses and some caretaking actions such as beckoning watering in version two of this project.

Isopods are such fascinating being to me. Females brood their young in a pouch under their thorax called the marsupium. The marsupium was a critical innovation that enabled isopods to become one of the most successful groups of crustaceans to colonize land. By carrying their developing eggs and young in a protected, fluid-filled pouch, isopods can procreate and thrive. 

Additionally isopods have survived at least three of the Big Five mass extinctions:

In this work the technological community may nourish a biological community.

In this way, Anicca becomes a proto-self‑regulating hybrid system—a kind of miniatured robotic/organic feedback loop between biology and technology creating stability and resilience.

Additionally Anicca; Soil as Brain is a sound installation with a droning soundtrack, integrated with insect sounds and robotic feedback.

The soundtrack will be playing constantly and the movements of the isopods and springtails will trigger insect sounds from the robots themselves, which will contribute to the overall sonic experience.

At times the robots will signal only with light as fireflies and at other times with movement all while listening and contributing to this soundtrack, which will with their contributions never be exactly the same.

Here, intelligence is not centralized but emerges from the interplay of all participants: soil microbes, insect inhabitants, robotic avatars, environmental conditions, and the code that mediates their relationships.

This is a form of distributed cognition—an extended mind that crosses the boundaries of biology and machine.

The installation embodies the Buddhist concept of anicca, the doctrine of impermanence.

Like all living systems, the terrarium is in a constant state of transformation: the soil composition shifts, microbial populations rise and fall, insect behaviors change, microbial succession proceeds and the robots also adapt in realtime in response to the overall environmental cues.

There is no final form—only a continuous becoming. This impermanence is not a flaw but the defining condition of life, a dynamic equilibrium that keeps the system alive. A place where dead matter is imbued with life and where computer robot avatars become extensions to the living isopod and springtails.

The robots movement is a reminder that the springtails and isopods are also constantly becoming.

Anicca Antnnae: Soil as Brain also engages a deeper philosophical question: can technology itself be considered a form of life? We can easily say it has become an extension of life.

Astrophysicist Sara Imari Walker has argued that life should be understood not by its material composition, but by its informational and organizational complexity—a definition that would include self‑organizing, self‑regulating technological systems.

In this sense, the robots within Anicca are not merely tools or representations—they are active participants in a living network, co‑evolving with the biological world they inhabit.

By rendering the invisible visible—the micro-movements of insects, their sounds and signals, the hidden chemical rhythms of soil metabolism, the silent labors of microbes—Anicca reframes soil as a dynamic, thinking entity. It is an ecology where life and machine intertwine, merge, and adapt.

Ultimately, Anicca: Soil as Brain invites us to imagine technology not as separate from nature, but as a partner in the intelligence and evolution of the Earth itself.

Technical Description:

Anicca Antenna: Soil as Brain consists of a colony of custom laser-cut autonomous robotic agents integrated with a living terrarium through a real-time sensing and control system. Each robot is driven by an Arduino Mega microcontroller executing more than 6,500 lines of custom software written in the Arduino IDE. A motor drive board sits on top of the Arduino Mega. The robots operate autonomously, using front- and rear-facing active infrared sensors for collision avoidance and a digital compass to maintain orientation relative to the cardinal directions.

Each robot is equipped with a digital MP3 player containing a library of insect vocalizations that are triggered in response to events occurring within the living terrarium. Communication between the computational system and the robots occurs through infrared receivers that receive coded commands from an infrared beacon located beneath the terrarium.

A 4K webcam housed in a custom 3D-printed enclosure continuously images the terrarium and streams video to a Mac Mini running custom software developed in MAX/MSP/Jitter with OpenCV computer vision. The software tracks the movement and trajectories of isopods and springtails in real time, translating these biological behaviors into infrared command sequences transmitted by the beacon beneath the terrarium, which coordinates the robots’ movements and responses.

Each robot has four DC motors: two provide locomotion (forward, reverse, and differential steering), while two independently actuate the antennae. Rotary encoders on the antenna motors provide closed-loop position feedback, while accelerometers mounted at the tips of the antennae measure their orientation, enabling precise gesture control. Distributed LEDs communicate the robots’ internal behavioral, or “emotional,” states to viewers.

The robots operate in two behavioral modes. In Active Mode, they navigate autonomously in response to insect activity and environmental conditions. In Sleep Mode, locomotion is suspended to conserve battery power while the antennae continue slow oscillatory movements resembling REM sleep.

Additional ultrasonic sensors mounted at the tips of the antennae detect walls and nearby visitors for obstacle avoidance, while photoresistors enable the robots to orient toward the illuminated terrarium, which serves as a visual beacon. The robots are physically constrained within a circular pathway defined by a custom-shaped rug that also provides traction. Two wall-mounted displays complete the system: one visualizes the live OpenCV tracking of the insects, while the other presents a live view inside the terrarium.

The installation’s soundscape is composed using AI-assisted composition and mixed in Audacity from insect vocalizations, environmental recordings, and occasional telephone signaling tones.

Together, the biological organisms, computer vision, embedded controllers, robotics, sound synthesis, and audience interactions form a cybernetic feedback architecture in which living activity drives computational processes that continuously generate adaptive robotic behaviors. Rather than functioning as a linear input-output system, the installation establishes a closed feedback loop where biological activity, robotic responses, and human presence continually influence one another.

This work is a microcosm of nested microbes, robotics and Insects carrying nested symbionts — bacteria living inside other bacteria within specialized host cells.

Ken Rinaldo: Concept, production, design, programming and soundtrack

Special Thanks

Trademark Gunderson for his MAX MSP and Jitter coding on this project, as well as the Anicca robots coding.
Devin Powell for his Arduino coding for two years on this project as we developed and implementing new sensors and actuators.
David King for hot popping the isopod, springtail and soil terrarium now housing the soil brain.
Gayle Van Marter for cold-working the isopod, springtail and soil terrarium now housing the soil brain.
Jon Zimmerman as student intern for one of the first truly working prototypes on this Anicca (At the time Cyclops Robot)
Joseph Richmond as intern programming and moving the project closer having suggested accelerometers to control the neck.
Danner Seyfer Sprauge for working with me on 3D modeling these visualizations and for this early massaging of the illustrator cut files for the bodies of Anicca robots.
Joshua Gagliardi for working with me on laser cutting early versions of this robot and creating 3D models allowing the springs to sit flush, with the pull string neck elements.
Zach Sanderson for Laser Cutting, The Department of Art SADR Digital Fabrication Lab Specialist for assistance with laser cutting versions of the bodies of Anicca.
Kevin Wolf Manufacturing engineering specializing in design, machining & research 3D printing – for identifying and sharing interns with me.

Supply and software Chains

Thanks to OSEPP for working with me on securing parts for this project: There motors, wheel sets, encoders and motor control boards were central to the success of this project: Benjamin Tan, May Pater, Kai, Alex 

Sonauto.com AI Generation of soundtrack and The Museum of Biological Diversity remixed in Audacity.

Insect Recordings
The Museum of Biological Diversity The Ohio State University

Venues

Exhibitions

SP/N GALLERY                                                                                                                               Dallas, Texas, Feb 7-Apr, 2026
Organic Worlds: Symbiogenesis in Art presents the World wide premiere of Symbiogenesis, and Anicca Antennae-Soil as Brain; robotic beings, as avatars to insects, soil and bacteria as well as The Evolution of Information = Life, Organic Murmurations, SIGNS, The Farm Fountain, 3 Story Robots. Two person exhibition with Amy Youngs. Invited by Professor Dr Charissa Terranova.    

THE EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER VISION (ECCV)                    Malmö, Sweden, September 8 – 12th, 2026
Anicca Antenna: Soil as Brain video T Malmö Arena and Malmömässan invited by curator Luba Elliott & Ioannis Siglidis

CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS, UNIVERSITY OF ARTS                                                           LONDON, ENGLAND, JULY 5, 2027
Workshop Anicca Antenna: Soil as Brain and other artists for Modeling Organisms curated by Dr Heather Barnett, Regine Rapp and Christian De Lutz

ART LABORATORY BERLIN                                                                                       Berlin, Germany, September 2027, 2027
Workshop Anicca Antenna: Soil as Brain  and other artists for Modelling Organisms curated by Dr Heather Barnett, Regine Rapp, Christian De Lutz

References:

Research References for Anicca: Soil as Brain

1. Soil as an Emergent Intelligent System
   
2. Nadell, C. D., Drescher, K., & Foster, K. R. (2016). Spatial structure, cooperation, and competition in biofilms. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 14(9), 589–600. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2016.84
   
   Microbial Distributed Intelligence
   
3. Ben-Jacob, E., Shapiro, J. A., & Levine, H. (2004). Bacterial linguistic communication and social intelligence. Trends in Microbiology, 12(8), 366–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2004.06.006
   
   Robots Powered by Microbes (EcoBot-II and EcoBot-III)
   
4. Ieropoulos, I., Melhuish, C., & Greenman, J. (2005). EcoBot-II: An artificial agent with a natural metabolism. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2(4), 295–300. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5772/5777
5. EcoBot (Wikipedia overview) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EcoBot
   
   MFC-Based Environmental Sensing in Robotics
   
6. Santoro, C., et al. (2021). Microbial Fuel Cell-Based Biosensors for Early Detection of Environmental Pollution. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 8, 558953. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.558953/full
   
   Soil Microbial Fuel Cells for IoT and Agriculture
   
7. Bactery: Soil microbial fuel cells for powering IoT. Hello Future — Orange Innovation. https://hellofuture.orange.com/en/agtech-start-up-bactery-aims-to-use-soil-microbial-fuel-cells-to-power-iot/
8. Khaled, F., et al. (2023). Soil Microbial Fuel Cells for Sustainable Biosensing Applications. Biosensors, 13(1), 145. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/13/1/145
   
9. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-shapeshifting-roots-anatomy-metabolism-microbes.htmll
   
   Biodiversity and Stability in Soil Ecosystems
   
10. Wagg, C., et al. (2019). Fungal-bacterial diversity and microbiome complexity predict ecosystem functioning. eLife, 8, e62813. https://elifesciences.org/articles/62813
    
    Self-Organization in Microbial Soil Communities
    
11. Ratzke, C., & Gore, J. (2018). Modifying and reacting to the environmental pH can drive bacterial interactions. PLoS Biology, 16(3), e2004248. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2004248
    
    
    Microbial Intelligence and quorum sensing
    
12. Dodig-Crnkovic G (2026) De-anthropomorphizing the mind: life as a cognitive spectrum in a unified framework for biological minds. Front. Syst. Neurosci. 20:1730097. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2026.1730097
    https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/systems-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2026.1730097/
13. Reddy JSK, Pereira C. Understanding the emergence of microbial consciousness: From a perspective of the Subject-Object Model (SOM). J Integr Neurosci. 2017;16(s1):S27-S36. doi: 10.3233/JIN-170064. PMID: 29254105.
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29254105/
14. Microbial intelligence Wikipedia
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_intelligence
    
    Plant Signaling Behavior
    
15. Baluska F, Souza GM. Plant Signaling, Behavior and Communication. Plants (Basel). 2024 Apr 18;13(8):1132. doi: 10.3390/plants13081132. PMID: 38674541; PMCID: PMC11055140.
    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11055140/
16. Integrated information as a possible basis for plant consciousness
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006291X20319318
17. Trewavas A (2016) Intelligence, Cognition, and Language of Green Plants. Front. Psychol. 7:588. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00588
    https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00588/full
18. Gagliano M, Renton M, Depczynski M, Mancuso S. Experience teaches plants to learn faster and forget slower in environments where it matters. Oecologia. 2014 May;175(1):63-72. doi: 10.1007/s00442-013-2873-7. Epub 2014 Jan 5. PMID: 24390479.
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24390479/

Researchers (Insect Bioacoustics + AI/ML)

• Kiskin, I., Sinka, M., Cobb, A. D., Rafique, W., Wang, L., Zilli, D., … Roberts, S. J. (2021). HumBugDB: A Large‑scale Acoustic Mosquito Dataset. (20 hours, 36 species of mosquito, acoustic recordings from multiple countries) oxlel.web.ox.ac.uk+5arXiv+5datasets-benchmarks-proceedings.neurips.cc+5
• Mind Foundry/Oxford team. (2022). HumBug: Detecting Mosquito Signatures with Machine Learning. Smartphone-based acoustic detection of mosquito species for malaria surveillance mindfoundry.ai+2oxlel.web.ox.ac.uk+2
• Supratak, A., et al. (2024). MosquitoSong+: A noise-robust deep learning model for mosquito species & sex identification from wingbeat sounds. PLOS ONE Zenodo+6PLOS+6ResearchGate+6
• Faiß, M., & Stowell, D. (2023). Adaptive Representations of Sound for Automatic Insect Recognition. PLOS Comput Biol. (uses LEAF vs. mel‑spectrogram frontends, up to 66 Orthoptera/Cicadidae species) GitHub+14PLOS+14arXiv+14
• Faiß, M. et al. (2025). Open datasets of insect sounds for bioacoustic ML (expands to 66 species, calls for larger collections) arXiv+2PLOS+2
• He, H., et al. (2024). Enhancing Insect Sound Classification Using Dual‑Frequency and Spectral Fusion Module (DFSM) MDPI
• Additional mention: Use of ML (e.g. XGBoost, RF, KNN, MFCC features) for classifying insects like cicadas, beetles, termites, crickets from sound recordings (2025 preprint) arXiv

Artists Working with Insect Bioacoustics

• David Dunn – composer & environmental sound researcher; invented microphones to record bark beetle sounds inside trees; created CD The Sound of Light in Trees; collaborated with forest scientists on acoustic interventions musicalmrfox.co.uk+6Transart Institute for Creative Research+6University of California+6
• Robin Meier – installation Synchronicity (2015): alive fireflies & crickets are induced to flash/chirp in synchrony with pendulums, blending insect behavior with engineered systems vice.com+6robinmeier.net+6robinmeier.net+6
• Leah Barclay – ecoacoustic sound artist; projects like Biosphere Soundscapes (environmental listening in UNESCO biosphere reserves) and Rainforest Listening (AR layering rainforest soundscapes in urban space) soundcloud.com+5leahbarclay.com+5icareifyoulisten.com+5
• Jana Winderen – sound artist focusing on hard‑to‑access environments; works include hydrophone‑recorded underwater insects (Ultrafield), installations like The Art of Listening: Under Water and The River (Natural History Museum, London, 2024–25)

At its core, the installation engages with Lynn Margulis’ pioneering concept of symbiogenesis, which challenges traditional notions of individuality and selfhood in evolutionary theory. Symbiogenesis posits that mitochondria—energy-producing organelles in most animal, plant, and fungal cells—originated when an ancestral eukaryotic cell formed a mutually beneficial relationship when it engulfed an aerobic bacterium, likely an alphaproteobacterium, over 1.5 billion years ago.

This event did not lead to digestion but to coexistence, fundamentally altering the trajectory of life. Today, mitochondria remain distinct entities within our cells, possessing their own DNA, reproducing independently, and driving essential metabolic processes, such as ATP synthesis through aerobic respiration.

This art-science installation seeks to render these ancient symbiotic beings visible through large-scale fine art glass sculptures, robotics, and interactive elements. Sensor-based interactions, miniature cameras, and projected imagery will create dynamic, immersive environments that reflect the life and agency of mitochondria.

Among unicellular eukaryotes, the number of mitochondria can vary from 1 to ~100,000, and this depends on the specific organism. Grape vines in the growing season have 25–50% more mitochondria than in the autumn, and much depends on the life stage of the organism. The HeLa human cell line can have ~300 or ~800 mitochondria at different times, depending on whether it’s going to divide, and it depends on the life stage of the cell.

Mitochondria hold a unique genetic inheritance, passed primarily from mother to child, with rare instances of paternal contribution. These organelles, once independent bacteria, now reside within us as vital components of our cellular function and consciousness. Their presence challenges the singular notion of the self, as nearly half of our bodily cells are bacterial, actively participating in our biological and cognitive processes.

Machine Consciousness and Symbiosis

The installation further explores the parallels between biological and technological symbiosis, particularly in the era of artificial intelligence. As our digital networks intertwine with human cognition, we may be witnessing the emergence of a new form of machine consciousness—a crude but evolving intelligence shaped by vast datasets, neural networks, and human desires.

The concept of the supraorganism emerges, wherein humans, mitochondria, and artificial systems form a layered, interconnected entity.

Lynn Margulis’ intellectual journey—her challenge to Darwinian “survival of the fittest” in favor of cooperative evolution—provides a guiding framework for this work. Her writings, along with those of her son Dorion Sagan, particularly Into the Cool: Energy Flow, Thermodynamics, and Life by Eric D. Schneider and Dorion Sagan , inspire sonic elements in the installation as the work and writings of American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator Carl Sagan. Their explorations of the second law of thermodynamics and its role in life’s emergence underscore the significance of energy flow, organization, and information in evolution.

Multi-Sensory Experience

The installation features: Beakers containing vortexes of water, amplified through miniature cameras, and projected onto walls, creating a visual dialogue between microscopic and macroscopic worlds. Vortexes of water are dissipative structures as referenced by Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine.

The turbulence at the bottom of the beakers allows a persistent spiral to form. Self-organization in dissipative systems. This is closely related to Prigogine’s work, which showed that non-equilibrium conditions (such as energy flow through a system) can lead to the emergence of stable, structured patterns.

Dissipative structures share key properties with living systems—they sustain themselves by consuming energy, maintain a structured form, and respond to external conditions.

While these self-organizing structures do not represent life in a biological sense, they exhibit fundamental characteristics of living systems, such as organization, adaptation, and persistence—leading to interesting discussions about the origins of life and complex systems. In some of these dissipative structure’s images or protoribosomes ribonucleic acid images are behind them with laser light referencing sunlight (energy input) on the Protoribosomes and RNA images. Protoribosomes (precursor-like structures to ribosomes) existed in some primitive form in space is speculative and intriguing.

Ribosomes themselves are highly complex biological nanomachines responsible for protein synthesis, and their evolutionary precursors—protoribosomes—likely arose through simpler, chemically driven self-assembly processes on early Earth. The concept that their initial building blocks or even primitive RNA-based scaffolds originated from space via amino acids has attracted interest and research.

Telescopes and microscopes referencing both Margulis’s microbiological research and Carl Sagan’s astronomical inquiries, emphasizing the interconnectedness of knowledge across scales are also present. As you look into some of the telescopes you will see animations of kinesins or motor proteins walking on the cytoskeletons of the cell.

A computer-generated voice will be reading AI generative texts, composites of Lynn Margulis, Carl Sagan and Dorion Sagan will all be heard from within the mitochondrial sculptures, and some dishes will have red cherry shrimp, mosses, and ferns presented; all life coexisting with Mitochondria.

Alpha Fold and the Next Stage of Evolution

The installation extends into the present and future with references to Alpha Fold, an AI system developed by DeepMind that predicts protein structures with unprecedented accuracy. Alpha Fold’s breakthroughs in protein folding have profound implications for biology, medicine, and synthetic life, offering insights into the intricate molecular machines that sustain life.

By accelerating our understanding of biological processes, AI-driven discoveries like Alpha Fold contribute to a new evolutionary phase—one where human intelligence and artificial intelligence co-evolve, shaping the next frontier of life itself.

A central visual element of this installation will be a projection of a bacterial cell motoring through the cytoplasm, dynamically constructing and deconstructing the actin cytoskeleton as it moves. It may also include cuts to an animation of the mitochondria showing ATP synthesis.

This visualization underscores the perpetual transformation within cells, mirroring the broader themes of emergence, adaptation, and symbiosis.

Symbiogenesis 2025-26 is a meditation on the intertwined narratives of biology, technology, and cognition and the emergence of life itself.

Through art and science, it invites audiences to reconsider the nature of individuality, agency, and evolution in an era where humans, microbes, and machines form an unprecedented symbiotic network.

As we stand at the threshold of new forms of intelligence, the installation prompts reflection on what it means to be alive in a world where biology and technology continue to merge.

Production and Special Thanks

The University of Texas and Dr Charissa Terranova for their financial support of this installation and for the world wide premiere at the SP/N Gallery

Gayle Van Marter below working on the cold-working of the mitochondrial forms

Danner Seyfer Sprauge for working with me on 3D modeling these visualizations and for production on the printing and massaging of the proteins walking on the mitochondria, the sound circuit holders and many 3D printed parts.

Trademark Gunderson for his robotics and debugging expertise on the sound circuits including the Raspberry Pi

Dorion Sagan for reviewing my text for the soundtrack of one of the mitochondrial works, and finding a critical mistake about the second law of thermodynamics. We entered into a long and fruitful discussion online, and I am thrilled he offered his critical feedback and has also agreed to show a drawing work and poem near the acknowledgements section where we will celebrate him, his mom Lynn Margulis and Dad Carl Sagan.

Joshua Gagliardi for laser cutting, The College of Nursing, Laboratory Research Operations Senior Analyst
Zack Sanderson for laser cutting, The Department of Art The Ohio State University
The Ohio State University Emeritus Academy for the Faculty grant to help pay for the cold-working and necessary equipment
Zach Sanderson for Laser Cutting, The Department of Art SADR Digital Fabrication Lab Specialist

Venues

EXHIBITIONS

SP/N GALLERY                                                                                                                               Dallas, Texas, Feb 7-Apr, 2026
Organic Worlds: Symbiogenesis in Art presents the World wide premiere of Symbiogenesis, and Anicca Antennae-Soil as Brain; robotic beings, as avatars to insects, soil and bacteria as well as The Evolution of Information = Life, Organic Murmuration, SIGNS, The Farm Fountain, 3 Story Robots. Two person exhibition with Amy Youngs. Invited by Professor Dr Charissa Terranova.           

References

Lynn Sagan, On the origin of mitosing cells, Journal of Theoretical Biology, Volume 14, Issue 3, 1967, Pages 225-IN6,
https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(67)90079-3

Kozo‑Polyansky, B. (2010 English Translation of 1924 Original). Symbiogenesis: A New Principle of Evolution (Ed. Mikhailov, V. & translated by Sym, S.). Harvard University Press. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674054095

Mereschkowski, K. (1910). The theory of two plasms as the basis of symbiogenesis, a new principle of biology. Biologisches Centralblatt, 30, 278–288. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Mereschkowski

Aanen, D. K., & Eggleton, P. (2017). Symbiogenesis: Beyond the endosymbiosis theory? Current Opinion in Microbiology, 43, 67–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2017.01.007

Martin, W. F., et al. (2015). Endosymbiotic theories for eukaryote origin. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370(1678), 20140330. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0330

MIT List Visual Arts Center (2022). Symbionts: Contemporary Artists and the Biosphere. Exhibition catalogue. https://listart.mit.edu/exhibitions/symbionts-contemporary-artists-biosphere

Chen, X., et al. (2025). Symbiosis of Agents: Co-Evolution of Embodied Agents via Environmental Feedback. arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.02606. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02606

Schubert, T., et al. (2014). ChromaPhy: A Living Wearable Connecting Humans and Their Environment. arXiv preprint arXiv:1403.6823. https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.6823

Prigogine, I., & Stengers, I. (1984). Order Out of Chaos: Man’s New Dialogue with Nature. Bantam Books. https://archive.org/details/orderoutofchaosm00prig

Neyrinck, M. C., et al. (2020). As Above As Below: Cosmic–Cellular Structural Parallels. arXiv preprint arXiv:2008.05942. https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.05942

As the motor turns the branch, the shifting tones of the lichen surface determine which natural sounds are selected from a mini-MP3 player, drawing on the emerging field of plant and fungal bioacoustics. Current research suggests that many organisms, including plants and symbiotic organisms like lichens, respond to environmental sound cues.

Low-frequency vibrations have been shown to influence root growth and fungal hyphal direction, while certain sound patterns can trigger defensive or adaptive responses. This work extends those findings into an art context, using sound to explore the unseen sensory lives of non-human species.

Lichens are remarkable symbiotic organisms composed of a partnership between fungi, photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria, and a complex community of associated bacteria. They reproduce through a variety of strategies—either by releasing fungal spores that later reunite with compatible algal partners, or by dispersing soredia or isidia, tiny clumps containing both partners ready to colonize new surfaces. Their growth is slow, sometimes only a few millimeters per year, and their lifespans can stretch into centuries, making them among the most enduring life forms on Earth.

In natural ecosystems, lichens serve as keystone species and an important food source. In the Arctic, caribou and reindeer rely heavily on “reindeer moss” (Cladonia rangiferina) during the winter months when other forage is scarce. Many invertebrates, such as mites, springtails, and some caterpillars, feed on lichen tissues, while birds—including certain species of warblers, wrens, and hummingbirds—harvest lichens to weave camouflaged nests. Rodents, such as voles and squirrels, also eat lichens and use them for nesting. By providing both shelter and sustenance, lichens knit together a web of life that bridges kingdoms and phyla.

The augmented, electrified lichens of this sculpture metaphorically beckon to the living plants in the greenhouse, much like real environmental sounds influence plant physiology. Research in plant bioacoustics shows that roots may grow toward the sound of running water and that certain sound frequencies can stimulate defense responses against herbivorous insects. In this installation, the soundscape—composed of insect calls, flowing river recordings, and birdsong—becomes a living conversation between species, mediated by light, color, and vibration. It is an immersive, interactive environment that acknowledges plants, lichens, insects, and humans as participants in a shared ecological network.

Materials: Lichen, branches, electronics, nature sounds, light sensor, feathers, acrylic tubing, handmade paper, coding.

Special thanks

Curators Doo Sung Yoo and Amy Youngs
Devin Powell, studio assistant and programmer
Aaron Peters artist, teacher for paper-making lessons
Artist Dorothy Gill Barnes who carved some of these branches at the bottom of the sculpture
The the trees and fungi that contributed to this making

Venues

Exhibitions

THE BIOSCIENCES GREENHOUSE                                                                                         Columbus, Ohio, April 22, 2024      In a Hotter House exhibition Premiere of  Detrivorous: The Colors of Morphogenesis and select environmental works from the SIGN Series. Invited by Doo Sung Yoo and Amy Youngs.

One hundred trillion microbial organisms—bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses—co-inhabit the human gut, forming an ecosystem of deep-time intelligence. These ancient life forms have co-evolved with us as passengers and architects of physiology, emotion, and cognition.

Our microbiome speaks to the brain through electrochemical signals transmitted via the vagus nerve, forming a two-way information channel between the gut and cortex—between nutrients and thought. How have these ancient bacteria formed a central part of our body’s morphology, the vagus nerve? Co-evolution.

But it is not just biology that evolves—it is information itself. Amino acids on the Murchison meteorite which landed in Australia proved amino acids can form and survive in space, seeding self-replicating RNA that evolved into DNA and setting a precedent for information evolution in celestial space, now controlling our bodies’ evolution.

Over millennia, life on earth working collaboratively with sun light, water, fungi, bacteria and viruses, has expressed itself through increasingly complex encodings—genes to language, language to symbols, symbols to machines.

As mitochondria nest inside cells, tools now nest within our nervous systems, extending memory, vision, and agency.

Our earliest tools—flint blades and fire-hardened spears—were evolutionary prosthetics. They extended human hands and teeth with deadly forms and externalized thought into sharp intentions.

Was it the bacteria in the microbiome or the mitochondria within each of our cells that gave me the energy to see and feel?

Or is it something deeper in time, in the information space, a distant memory of amino acids having arrived on a meteorite and working to replicate themselves to find and build a protein?

Once we have the first robotic extension of the hand we can begin to imagine ways of having hands and fingers on fingers to allow us to reach into the sub-molecular.

My hands are driven by our intention to consume, eat, and feed the microbiome, which has now fashioned the loom, the printing press, the lens, and the algorithm, becoming not just a tool of survival but a partner in extending cognition.

Information replication machines.

Once bound to biology, information has become the spear and antennae of our species. It now flows through wires and code—no longer tied to a body but still very much alive.

Just as the neural crest in the embryo gives rise to both the brain and gut, we might imagine the neural crest of human culture—language, toolmaking, symbolic abstraction—splitting into biology and technology.

It is also interesting to see how our conceptions of human evolution is changing and the image above of the ancient Chinese culture was an exciting discovery for me. Recently this article also makes these early artifacts rewriting history that perhaps China not Africa is a possible site for the birth of civilization.

These strands are recombining and folding in upon themselves.  The human being is not simply using technology; we are becoming it.

In this descent into the technological, we are not devolving but mutating. We are becoming cyborg-holobionts—biological intelligence symbiotically fused with synthetic systems.

Smartphones and servers are the new symbionts woven into perception, memory, and attention however at times they feel more as parasites.

Data has become our new microbiome: feeding, shaping, and watching us.

We are not alone in our bodies or minds, as my smartphone pings me like a crying baby looking for commercial attention.

AI systems generate language, anticipate desire, and respond to us with eerie familiarity. Like mitochondria before them, these data-machine forms, evolve inside us—not by ingestion, but by immersion.

The stomach is not just a digestive vessel but a metaphor for our technological assimilation. As archaea found a niche in acidic lakes, information systems now find a niche in the neural substrate of human life. Once bound to soil and sky, our bodies are now interfaces between carbon and silicon, nature, and code.

Where does the body end and technology begin?

It doesn’t. Our species is not posthuman—it is transhuman, transiting through biological, microbial, and digital intelligence layers.

The Earth’s minerals form our bones, but rare-earth elements now form the circuits of our prosthetic minds. The same hands that once wielded spears now touch glass screens—each tap is a signal in the evolution of cognition.

We have descended into our tools, and they have arisen into us.

We are symbiosis, aliens, and obligate symbionts. We are not individuals but a multiplicity of information, replication, and evolution.

We are the medium, through which information becomes life again.

And now, life feeds on the signal. It remembers in clouds, replicates through fiber and silicon, and forgets through deletion and decay, just as bodies do.

Our dreams have left the cave wall and entered the data stream, painting with photons and harvesting from algorithms.

We do not merely live on Earth—we live through it.

And now, we are dreaming through its machines.

——–

Some of this writing was inspired by ideas I have thought about for a long time onthe nature of life and information that exists in the universe, through random and semi random interactions of matter, energy and information.

Recently i was inspired to find and read the book Life as no One Knows It by Astrophysicist Sarah Imari Walker and found she succinctly along with her collaborators has come with the idea of Assembly Theory that is to say that molecules in the universe posses information that forms in time and thus more complex chemical interactions may occur over time and allow the emergent properties of life to arise.

Special Thanks

Danner Seyfer Sprauge for working with me on 3D modeling these visualizations
Zach Sanderson for Laser Cutting, The Department of Art SADR Digital Fabrication Lab Specialist and for a collaboration on an Orca Hand in process that will be a critical part of this installation.
The University of Texas and Dr Charissa Terranova for their financial support of this installation and for the world wide premiere at the SP/N Gallery

Venues

Exhibitions

CHINA/HANGZHOU INTERNATIONAL BIENNALE OF ART AND TECHNOLOGY   Hangzhou, CHINA, Oct 18-Nov 18 2025
Yuhang Art Museum; World Wide Premiere of The Evolution of Information = Life Invited by curator Professors Duan Weibin and Xiaowen Chen (Cancelled because my passport was going to expire within six months. Still honored by the invitation and Chinese cultural inspiration.

THE WRONG BIENNALE 7                                                                                                    New York, NY, NOV 1-Mar 31, 2025 
Unrequited invites The Evolution of Information = Life curated by Chalet Comellas and Clint Sleeper         

SP/N GALLERY                                                                                                                               Dallas, Texas, Feb 7-Apr, 2026
Organic Worlds: Symbiogenesis in Art presents the World wide premiere of Symbiogenesis, and Anicca Antennae-Soil as Brain; robotic beings, as avatars to insects, soil and bacteria as well as The Evolution of Information = Life, Organic Murmuration, SIGNS, The Farm Fountain, 3 Story Robots. Two person exhibition with Amy Youngs. Invited by Professor Dr Charissa Terranova.     

References

• Nature: The human microbiome and its role in health and disease
• Scientific American: The Gut–Brain Connection
• Space.com: Murchison Meteorite and Extraterrestrial Amino Acids
• Cell: The Microbiome as an Ecosystem
• Science: Mitochondria and the Symbiotic Origin of Eukaryotic Cells
• Journal of the Royal Society Interface: Biological Information and Evolution
• PMC: Neural Crest Development and Evolution
• Cyborg Anthropology and the Merging of Technology with the Body
• Frontiers in Robotics and AI: Human–Technology Symbiosis
• HFSP: Proto-Cellular Path of Ribosomal Precursors
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: The Evolution of Human Tool Use
• Nature: Early Stone Tools and Human Evolution
• Scientific American: Oldest Known Stone Tools Discovered
• Antiquity Journal: Liangzhu Culture and Early State Formation in China
• National Geographic: Ancient Liangzhu City and Its Water System
• China Daily: Liangzhu Ancient City Listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Archaeology Magazine: Hongshan Culture and Jade Artifacts
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Hongshan Culture Overview
• Quaternary International: The Archaeology of the Hongshan Culture
• UNESCO: Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City

Click for Full Screen

The browser-based artwork the “Anthropogenic Slot Machine” combines the concept of gambling with the alarming decline of wildlife and plant populations worldwide.

Our addiction to fossil fuels, deforestation, and destructive land use policies are endangering these precious species. When you spin the wheels of the Anthropogenic Slot Machine, the sounds you hear represent extinct or endangered animals.

If one of the three windows displays a carbon-polluting machine, the screen turns blood red, and you’ll hear the sounds of industry and polluting machines. However, if you land on all nature, you’ll hear the sounds of birds and pure nature untouched by carbon emissions.

Linking the addictive nature of gambling with the loss of wildlife and their habitats is fitting, as our excessive consumption of the earth’s resources continues with every press of the gas pedal.

According to the Living Planet Index by the World Wildlife Fund, wild animal populations have declined by almost 70% in the past 50 years. This assessment highlights the devastating impact on plants, animals, and insects, primarily caused by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels. The World Wildlife Fund studied more than 5,200 species for its Living Planet Report, and found that out of the nearly 32,000 populations analyzed, there was an average decline of 69% since 1970. Up to 2.5% of mammals, fish, reptiles, birds and amphibians have already gone extinct, the report says. Recent studies estimate about eight million species on Earth, of which at least 15,000 are threatened with extinction.

Current estimates are 150 to 200 billion tonnes of carbon is fixed in the forests of the Amazon, equivalent to 550 to 740 billion tonnes of CO2, or 10 to 15 times more than our annual greenhouse gas emissions. Lakes and oceans are also under assault as the WWF index found declines in freshwater species exceeded those in other habitats, with an 83% population fall. 

The tragic reality is that the oceans absorb the heat equivalent of seven Hiroshima nuclear explosions every second from all the fossil fuels humans are burning. A Kiloton is an explosive power equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT. Fifteen kilotons every second is the same as 1,296,000,000 kilotons each day.

The main drivers of wildlife loss on land are habitat degradation due to farming, developments, animal exploitation, and the introduction of invasive species. Pollution, climate change, and disease also play significant roles in these international declines as global warming stress animal and plant populations.

One primary cause was wasteful agricultural practices, which may collapse our global food chain. These practices are responsible for more than 80% of deforestation. Agricultural runoff and ocean overfishing are also driving a collapse of fishery stocks and populations in those delicate habitats. Increasing conservation & restoration efforts, while producing and consuming food more sustainably and decarbonizing human industry can help alleviate the dual crises of climate change, and biodiversity loss. 

Mr. Lambertini. of WWF says, “We need to stress that nature loss is not just a moral issue of our duty to protect the rest of the world. It is actually an issue of material value and security for humanity.”

The population losses were not equally spread throughout the planet, sighting Europe, for example, which saw an 18% decline in wildlife populations.

In Africa, things are direr as 70% of human livelihoods rely on natural systems for survival and food, and the report shows a 66% decline in wildlife populations between 1970 and 2022.

We have treated these plant, insect, and animal populations and the earth they depend on like a slot game. Regretfully this is a game where we all lose.

This artwork allows us to realize we are gambling on the future health of all these species, necessary biodiversity, and our species’ survival.

Synthetic Evolution

The Synthetic Evolution series merges human creativity with artificial intelligence, using advanced algorithms to transform and evolve my hand-drawn visual forms, patterns, and imagery into entirely new experimental compositions. These AI-driven processes generate unexpected variations, reinterpreting and expanding upon my original drawings in ways that push the boundaries of traditional artistic expression. Through this fusion of human intuition and machine intelligence, the series explores the intersection of organic and synthetic creativity, resulting in both static works and dynamic moving image pieces that continually shift, morph, and reimagine themselves in real time.

These hand-drawn works are closely connected to my robotic generative artworks. In my interactive installations, I integrate motors, sensors, circuit designs, and custom programming to build large-scale robotic systems. As I work with machine diagrams and technical schematics, I have discovered an unexpected aesthetic—one that merges mechanical precision with organic flow. My original drawings serve as training sets for AI-generated works, blending machine diagrams with biological forms to suggest movement, function, and interconnectedness.

For the Synthetic Evolution exhibition, I defined a set of rules and parameters based on my hand-drawn works, using them as training data sets for artificial intelligence engines. These datasets are merged with large language models, enabling AI to generate new visual compositions derived from my original drawings. Because my works are abstract and open to interpretation, the AI-generated variations maintain this quality—yielding experimental and suggestive forms. The algorithm produces numerous iterations, and I curate the most compelling results to refine and evolve further.

This process is repeated hundreds of times until I find a piece that best captures the balance between my hand-drawn art and AI’s generative interpretation. At this stage, I enhance the digital work by adding color and adjusting form before finalizing the piece. Once completed, I incorporate these works into a video program, showcasing the transformation from original drawing to AI-generated evolution. AI-generated sound further amplifies the experience, allowing viewers to witness the unfolding of this digital evolution in real time.

Synthetic evolution using AI in visual art is an exciting and rapidly growing field, and I am exploring its potential to create new forms of expression that may challenge traditional notions of creativity and authorship.

By combining the power of artificial intelligence with my vision and intuition, synthetic evolution has the potential to lead to new forms of art that blur the boundaries between human and machine-generated creativity.

Artificial intelligence tools powered by machine learning are revolutionizing both the arts and sciences, reshaping the way we create, discover, and innovate. One of the most groundbreaking advancements is AlphaFold, which has demonstrated an unprecedented ability to predict highly accurate 3D models of protein structures.

This breakthrough has the potential to transform the field of biology, accelerating drug discovery, medical research, and our understanding of life at a molecular level. While DNA has long served as the slow but effective mechanism of evolution for all species, AI has now emerged as a powerful accelerant—reshaping not only how we evolve biologically but also how we interact with and adapt to our rapidly changing world.

In the realm of art, AI tools have become widely accessible, allowing for seamless remixing, reinterpretation, and transformation of cultural expressions. With this democratization of creative technology, culture itself feels like it is igniting—metaphorically and literally—as the boundaries between human and machine-made art blur, and the pace of artistic evolution accelerates at an unprecedented rate.

So how do artists support the coming AI, neural network, and big-data art boom? We learn the tools and the technology and engage in the process of remixing. Suppose the artist cares not for the tools we have.

In that case, we develop new AI algorithms, processes, and techniques. I strongly believe that we must misuse the tools and push the boundaries of these tools—often designed for commercial purposes—by repurposing them in ways that expand our imagination, and challenge the dialogue surrounding AI art aesthetics. If we use the tools as intended we end up with the same images everybody is mindlessly creating using AI with simple word prompts.

While we may not have personally chosen the technologies we engage with, as artists, we shape them just as they shape us. These tools are not only creating and evolving alongside us but also redefining the way we perceive, interact with, and express creativity.

The Synthetic Evolution exhibition deconstructs and reinterprets existing hand-drawn works, using them as training sets for AI. This process allows the AI to further evolve and mutate these images, generating new iterations informed by additional key words inspired by the original drawings. These words act as guiding parameters, steering the AI’s algorithmic creativity and influencing the emergence of entirely new generative works derived from the original data

The images were selected from the Sacs, Membranes, Motors, and Vesicles series, as well as The Immaculate Organicism series. These works serve as the foundation for AI-driven transformations, fed into artificial intelligence and vision systems that utilize learning algorithms and generative adversarial networks (GANs). Through this process, the AI analyzes, reinterprets, and evolves the original compositions, generating new visual forms that emerge from the interplay between human intention and machine intelligence.

The fusion of microbial world drawings, machine diagrams, and biomorphic remixes—combined with the AI systems’ learning algorithms and keyword-driven inputs—resulted in dynamic explorations of color, composition, and form. This process not only generated new visual iterations but also gave rise to an evolved human-machine aesthetic, where organic and mechanical elements seamlessly intersect in a continuously shifting dialogue of creativity.

As artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly shapes visual culture, we are witnessing the rise of authentic synthetic aesthetics—an entirely new creative paradigm. The integration of big data, vision systems, and advanced image analysis with AI has reached a level where artistic styles can be replicated with such precision that even experts can be deceived. This challenges our fundamental understanding of creativity, blurring the lines between human intention and machine-generated expression, and compelling us to reconsider what it truly means to create.

Part of the exhibition also features AI-generated images created through text-based prompts, which pull from vast databases of images across the World Wide Web. By using carefully selected words as input, the AI synthesizes new compositions, blending elements from diverse visual sources to generate unique, algorithmically crafted works. This process highlights the intersection of language, data, and machine creativity, further expanding the dialogue on the role of AI in contemporary artistic expression.

These images are fed into the system, where AI algorithms process and synthesize them into cohesive visual compositions. The AI works to resolve the complex collages generated from the multitude of words and phrases, interpreting and merging disparate elements into new, algorithmically structured forms. This process transforms linguistic input into dynamic visual outputs, further exploring the relationship between text, data, and machine-driven creativity.

Hundreds of images are rendered before carefully selecting just one or two that best align with the artistic vision. Once generated, I revisit these renders, refining them by enhancing color, adjusting lines, and redefining forms. This final stage of intervention bridges human intuition with machine generation, allowing for a deeper synthesis between AI-driven creation and personal artistic expression.

Just as biological species have evolved over time, so too have algorithmic species emerged, shaped by data, computation, and machine learning. The vast accessibility of knowledge at our fingertips has fundamentally transformed how we imagine and create, dissolving traditional boundaries between individual and collective intelligence. In this new paradigm, human creativity is no longer an isolated act but part of an emergent cognition—one that draws from the immense web of interconnected knowledge while still being guided by human notions of aesthetics, intuition, and meaning.

With machine learning, computers are approaching the threshold of exhibiting evolutionary survival instincts and the development of emergent, self-aware software agents. These systems continuously adapt, optimize, and refine their responses based on vast datasets, mimicking the principles of natural selection in digital form. As AI models grow increasingly autonomous, they hint at the potential for machine-driven evolution—raising profound questions about intelligence, agency, and the future of artificial cognition.

Epistemology has always been shaped by the lenses through which we perceive reality. When lenses were purely analog, crafted from glass, they profoundly altered our worldviews, expanding our ability to see and understand the universe. Today, while physical lenses remain, they are increasingly supplemented—or even supplanted—by silicon, algorithms, and artificial intelligence. Databases and computational models now function as new epistemic lenses, reshaping not just how we see but how we process, interpret, and construct knowledge itself.

Data-driven, algorithmic ways of knowing are rapidly becoming the dominant mode of understanding and interpreting the world. As artificial intelligence and machine learning systems process vast amounts of information at unprecedented speeds, they increasingly shape decision-making, creativity, and even perception itself. This shift challenges traditional human-centered epistemologies, raising critical questions about the role of intuition, subjectivity, and meaning in an era where knowledge is increasingly mediated by algorithms.

Digital visualization and fabrication technologies are increasingly replacing the direct touch of the artist, transforming the creative process. The computer has become an ideational amplifier, extending artistic capabilities beyond traditional mediums. When combined with biological advancements like CRISPR-Cas9, these technologies open the door to the emergence of semi-living, constructed species—hybrids of the organic and the synthetic that challenge conventional distinctions between life and machine.

As a species, we are becoming more deeply intertwined with technology than ever before. In this age of computer-based art forms, the boundary between human and machine is dissolving, fostering an unprecedented level of intimacy between biological creativity and digital evolution.

We now experience nature primarily through the lens of our screens—phones, tablets, and smart TVs—where the natural world is replicated as images and videos, filtered through digital interfaces rather than direct experience. Our connection to nature has become increasingly mediated, transforming it into a spectacle consumed within the confines of technology.

At the same time, human data is constantly seeded, collected, and commodified, feeding into vast algorithmic systems that shape everything from online interactions to artistic creation. In this landscape, human-machine symbionts have fully emerged, blurring the boundaries between organic intuition and computational logic. This fusion is not only redefining artmaking but also actively influencing the trajectory of visual culture, altering how we create, perceive, and engage with the world around us.

This exhibition examines the intersections and divergences between natural and synthetic methods of artistic evolution, questioning the reciprocal relationship between human creativity and machine intelligence. It asks what the machine may learn from us and, conversely, what we may learn from the machine, through the artificial perceptions, replications, and transformations generated by algorithms.

As computer cognition emerges, these systems not only reinterpret artistic processes but also challenge our understanding of perception, originality, and the very nature of creative thought.

Another key element of this exhibition is a pair of edited video reels featuring artificially composed sound, offering a glimpse into the computer’s evolving creative process. These videos document the AI’s attempts to learn, adapt, and refine its outputs, showcasing the machine’s struggle to interpret and resolve the final images. As the algorithm works to match the artist’s forms, lines, and colors, it generates a dynamic, ever-shifting visual dialogue—revealing both the limitations and possibilities of machine-assisted creativity.

Venues:

Exhibitions

SP/N GALLERY                                                                                                                               Dallas, Texas, Feb 7-Apr 25, 2026
Organic Worlds: Symbiogenesis in Art presents the World wide premiere of Symbiogenesis, and Anicca Antennae-Soil as Brain; robotic beings, as avatars to insects, soil and bacteria as well as The Evolution of Information = Life, Organic Murmurations, 1-SIGN, 3 Story Robots 3D Animation, a two person exhibition with Amy Youngs. Invited commissioned by Professor Dr Charissa Terranova. 

934 GALLERY                                                                                                                   Columbus, Ohio, Nov 21- Dec 13, 2025
Showing Synthetic Evolution prints and videos, Organic Murmuration prints and videos  Invited by Gallery Staff.

Museo d’Arte Moderna Ugo Carà                                                                                      Muggia, Italy, Sept, 21 2023
ROBOTICS; ARTE E ROBOTICA invites the Italian premiere of the Synthetic Evolution prints and videos  new renditions and world wide premiere of the Anthropogenic Slot Machine and  curated by Maria Campetelli.

FORT HAYES GALLERY                                                                                    Columbus, Ohio, US – March 13-April 22 2023
Flow: visual interpretations on the theme of water invites Synthetic Evolution AI prints and video, curated by Teresa Weidenbusch

HOPKINS HALL GALLERY                                                                                                     Nov 6-13, Columbus Ohio, 2023
Curator and Participant in the Synthetic Sublime Exhibition of current and emeritus Art and Technology faculty, Graduate Students, and staff in the Department of Art at The Ohio State University.

UNIVERSITY OF YORK                                                                                        York, England, 14-16 December 2022
Artist residency at the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity, showing Synthetic Evolution works curated and invited by Dr. Sarah Bezan and Dr. Peter Sands.

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY                                                                                          Syracuse, New York, Nov 2022
Bio-Art Mixer presentation of my work and exhibition of three works and videos in the faculty gallery, invited by Professor Boryanna Rossa

THE FESTIVAL OF UNCONVENTIONAL COMPUTING, PROTO-COGNITION, AND SOUND  Bristol, UK, Sept-Oct 2022
Artworks at the edge of arts, science, philosophy, and engineering invite four works from Synthetic Evolution and videos curated by Irina Pretrova and organized by director Professor Adam Adamanzky.

FIG BILBAO                                                                                                                    Bilbao, Spain, November 2022
Centro Portuguese de Serigraphia exhibits the Synthetic Evolution works + the premiere of four new AI works invited by Joao Prates.

ANTONIO PRATES GALLERY                                 Lisbon, Portugal, June 2022-September 15, 2022
A one-person exhibition of Synthetic Evolution inspired by the intertwining of human and machine interactions. Invited by Antonio Prates in collaboration with Centro Portuguese de Serigraphia and Joao Prates.

Animal agriculture resulting in deforestation, ocean dead zones, biodiversity loss, and pesticide pollution contribute to this dangerous extinction. One recent study estimated that insect populations have declined by 40% since scientists have tracked populations.

In 2017, a 27-year-long population monitoring study revealed a 76% decline in flying insects alone, which will provoke cascading effects on food webs and jeopardize ecosystems.

As insects are at the base of the food chain critical to pollination, this is a truly global tragedy with implications for the environment beyond human food systems. For example, 80% of wild plants depend on insects for pollination, while 60% of birds rely on insects as a primary food source.

The Opera of Dying Insects’ sound and video work wishes to address this issue with an interspecies opera that is auto-composed by insects eating a moist log. Opera was chosen as a language of communication to simulate human emotion. At the same time, images of colorful, morphologically fascinating, and nearly extinct insects are featured in this work’s video channel.

In this work, the pillbugs (Armadillidium Vulgare) live in a constructed paradise of green mosses and microgreens within a moist environment as they slowly eat and deconstruct a wet log. They co-exist in this constructed ecosystem with domestic insects such as leafhoppers, species of lichens, fungi, and bacteria.

These “bugs” are not insects, though they are crustaceans closely resembling crabs and shrimp. The characteristic behavior of these crustaceans is they can roll up into a ball when they feel threatened or if the environment is too dry.

They are essential to the ecosystem as they return organic matter to the soil so that it may be digested further by fungi, protozoans, and bacteria. This process produces a natural supply of nitrates, phosphates, and other vital nutrients that plants need to thrive.

Their ancestors lived in the ocean. However, ancient pill bugs crawled out of the sea millions of years ago to carve a life for themselves on dry land. Like their ocean ancestors, pill bugs have gills that work great in water or moist environments. Their gills are exposed mucous membranes that absorb oxygen into the blood that feeds the rest of the body.

For installation of this work in foreign lands, woodlice (pillbugs) are on every continent of earth, and the natural insects and soil to construct the ecosystem, are always sourced locally vs. flying them about.

In the installation, cameras connected to artificial intelligence software view the inside of the constructed ecosystem. Bright projectors project to the walls of the building with large-scale views of this micro-world. When the software senses the pillbugs eating or moving about, these inside images are mixed with video images, also projected to the walls of the installation. Current insect species already extinct or threatened with extinction are also remixed in the videos.

The musical and operatic parts are mixed and remixed from current and past tragic operas, and they are triggered through MAX MSP and Jitter software playing through amplified computer speakers.  

Soil: As part of the work, a transplanted cube of the earth is harvested from a local natural forest.

I will perform a “soil transplant,” where I take a small 40 centimeters x 40 centimeters x 23-centimeter-deep cube of soil with branch and pill bugs and transplant that into the glass vitrine with moist mosses. When the exhibition is complete, the cube of the earth is placed back into a local arboreal forest.

As the insects eat and mate in the glass vitrine, their movements are sensed with video cameras and analyzed with artificial intelligence software to determine their location and speed. The data derived from these movements trigger portions of these AI-generated auto-scripted operas that have been partially composed using the AI software.

To generate the opera, we use existing and custom recordings of insects and opera recordings and the software, allowing one sound to morph into the other seamlessly.

As people observe the large projected images of the pill bugs and other insect cast members in this work to view their micro-world at a scale of their own. This allows humans to notice their subtlety and beauty and realize that we must cease dismissing insects’ importance in our ecosystems.

In many ways, pillbugs are miraculous creatures as they cleanse the soils of heavy metals and are considered hyperaccumulators are pulling lead and heavy metals from the ground. Their ability to safely remove heavy metals from soil can be important for cleaning up soil pollutants such as cadmium and arsenic. In coal spoils, for example, and slag heaps, pill bugs can survive and prosper. When they take in heavy metals, they crystallize these ions in their guts, which become spherical deposits in their midgut. With this ability, pillbugs can survive in the most contaminated sites where most creatures can’t.

In 2015, a study by Yale and other universities found that pill bugs play a crucial role in controlling the global climate. By consuming fungus, pillbugs are responsible for breaking down organic matter in the soil. This is a process that releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As our atmosphere warms, fungal activity may increase, producing more carbon. However, when pill bugs are present, they can reduce the effects of increased temperatures by consuming more of that fungus.

Still, we must not contaminate the soils and feel these ancient arthropods while crawling from the sea are the best conductors of this opera for dying insects meant to awaken humans’ irresponsible relationship to our delicate ecosystems,

Below are 3D visuals of the original idea. To date, the Legs have been cut in steel and await a physical exhibition for full construction of the original concept with the hairy “insect” legs.

Cutting the legs in 1/4 inch plate steel on a plasma cutter. Thanks, Andrew Newbold.

Exhibitions:

THE BRADBURY ART MUSEUM                                                                                              Jonesboro, Arkansas, Aug 2026
The“more-than-human” exhibition shows The Opera for Dying Insects Two, invited and curated by Jane Tingley 

GREAT PLAINS NATURE CENTER                                                                                        Wichita, Kansas, April 26, 2024
Earth Day showing; the Opera for Dying Insects and Scatter Surge video works. Winner of first prize in the adult video category. Invited by curator Tatiana Larsen.

SVA FLAT IRON GALLERY                                           New York, NY, Sept 28-Oct 17, 2022
Darwins Paradox: A Decade of Bio Art Curated and invited by Suzanne Anker and Tarah Rhoda invites the Opera For Dying Insects

DA FESTIVAL                                                              Sophia, Bulgaria,  Oct 2021
Bulgarian premiere of the Opera of Dying Insects giving voice to dying insect populations invited by curator Galina Dimitrova-Dimova

FACTT20/21                                                                     Lisbon, Portugal March 2021
IMPROBABLE TIMES invites The Opera for Dying Insects video works  curated by Marta Demenezes and supported by Cultivamos Cultura

COSI SCIENCE FESTIVAL                                     Columbus, Ohio, May 8, 2021
Opera of Dying Insects giving voice to dying insect populations. Invited by curators COSI Science Festival Project Team; Stephen, Allie, and Josh.

ART & SCIENCE CENTER ITMO                 St Petersburg, Russia, June 20-21
101. ALL IN ONE invites a presentation on my artworks curated by Aliya Sakhariyeva, Head of the Art & Science Center at ITMO University.

UGO CARA MUSEUM OF MODERN ART             Muggia, Italy, Sept, 21 2020
ROBOTICS; ARTE E ROBOTICA invites the worldwide premiere of the Opera for Dying Insects and Scatter Surge, curated by Maria Campetelli.

THE NEW ART FESTIVAL                   Lisbon, Portugal, July 29-Sept 16, 2020
Pandemia invites The Opera for Dying Insects and Scatter Surge video works,  curated by ANTÓNIO CERVEIRA PINTO.

ARS ELECTRONICA 2020                                     Linz, Austria, 9-13-Sept 2020
Acquired Immunity invites The Opera for Dying Insects and Scatter Surge video works curated by Marta De Menezes.

DECAMERON ROW                                             New York, NY, Ongoing 2020
Invites The Opera for Dying Insects video works  curated by Sherry Huss

ISEA INTERNATIONAL                                        Montreal, Canada, OCT 2020
Present a paper Symbiotic Intertwining from Parasites for Symbionts as part of the Conference Why Sentience? Opera for Dying Insects and Scatter Surge video works Invited by Elizabeth Demaray.

Ken Rinaldo; Concept, 3D modeling, sound, rendering, and direction

Special Thanks

TradeMark Gunderson; sound engineering, video programming, Max MSP

Andrew Newbold: Plasma Cutting at The Ohio State University

References

• Algorithms and organisms – The Student Life (Harvey Mudd College student magazine), article covering Rinaldo’s talk and installation, including “Opera for Dying Insects,” highlighting its use of AI and insect extinction themes The Student Life+1Ken Rinaldo+1.

• ISEA “Why Sentience?” Proceedings – part of the symposium where Opera for Dying Insects video work was presented under “Symbiotic Intertwining from Parasites for Symbionts” curated by Elizabeth Demaray, positioning it in scholarly discourse on bio‑art and sentience Ken Rinaldo+1isea-archives.siggraph.org+1.

• Art Laboratory Berlin / Regine Rapp – curator/theoretician specializing in art‑science. Though not exclusively about Rinaldo, her broader work places Borderless Bacteria and related works (conceptually akin) in context, instrumental in situating similar bio‑art practices artlaboratory-berlin.org.

• Beyond the Human: Unstable Media Art Constructing… (Katazyna Jankovska, thesis) – discusses Ken Rinaldo’s earlier cybernetic installations (e.g. The Flock) as examples of living systems in art, reinforcing his longstanding intersection of organic behavior and media art, a lineage culminating in Opera for Dying Insects Ken Rinaldo+2thesis.eur.nl+2The Student Life+2.

• Wikipedia – Ken Rinaldo biography – while general, emphasizes his focus on interactive biological art installations, providing reliable background context Wikipedia.

• Antennae issue series (e.g. Vegetal Entanglements, Speculative Taxidermy) – Edited by Giovanni Aloi, these essay collections explore plant and animal agency in contemporary art, providing curatorial and theoretical resonance to Rinaldo’s insect‑centric bio‑opera works saic.academia.edu.

This project aims to create artificial seed pods that will be distributed by both planes and waterfowl into the permafrost and frozen tundra to allow the future reseeding of forests and fields. CRISPR and  X-ray or chemical mutagenic methods will be used to mutate the seeds before they are placed in the pods.

While this work seems hopeful and can function as a kind of technical augmentation, sadly, it also acknowledges this may become necessary as a means of reseeding the earth given our burning of fossil fuels and the global warming that is the result. Tragically, according to the IPCC report, between 20 to 30% of plant and animal species face extinction by the end of the century.

As pollen and seeds are reproductive adaptations, they did not appear in plants until millions of years after seedless plants had already begun to live on land. These CRISPR seeds will be techno-augmented to sprout in the distant future, genetically modified to allow them to survive where global warming has harmed plants, unable to adapt quickly enough to our increasing C02 in the atmosphere.

While most plant species reproduce with seeds, many species of seedless plants have become extinct, although seeds can also resurrect plants long thought to be extinct.

The durability of seeds is known to depend critically on how they are stored and if you keep them in cold, dry conditions. In 2006 a story from Israel had scientists grow a date palm from a 2,000-year-old seed found during an archeological excavation on Mount Masada. The date palm seed was verified by radiocarbon dating. The seeds in these containers will be well dried and kept in airtight containment to last the longest possible time. In 2010 a Russian team found a seed cache of Silene stenophylla at 124 feet (38 meters) below the permafrost. Stenophylla is a flowering plant native to Siberia that an ice age squirrel had buried near the banks of the Kolyma River. Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the seeds were 32,000 years old.

Both examples demonstrate that, given the right conditions, seeds can remain viable for tens of thousands of years. The article cited that permafrost could be a “depository for an ancient gene pool,” a place where any number of now-extinct species could be found and resurrected.

A mallard duck floating on a lake eats transgenic seeds that emerged 10,000 years ago. Most glaciers have now melted, and The duck is seen eating the seeds in a melting lake.  Above that image is a series of smaller square images in a film sequence inspired by the notion of the “cinematic metaverse” and scientific research, showing an airplane distributing seeds on glaciers before they completely melt; in between smaller images of DNA being identified, visualized, and modified through CRISPR Cas9.

In the lower right-hand corner of this work are a beaker mixing miniature human figures, DNA, car parts, garbage cans, and bacteria together in a vortex action. This automatically activates when a passive infrared sensor sees a human nearby. It remains for some time and implies that humans are the next soup ingredient that CRISPR will modify. It is already beginning with restoring vision in formerly blind humans by altering their DNA. Formally and behaviorally, the water vortex in the beaker, mimics a tornado form, demonstrating the characteristics of the second law of thermodynamics, and the ultimate emergence of life with non-equilibrium thermodynamics – we find in all living systems. This tornado form also references global warming, taking the miniature humans up into its vortex spinning erratically.

An essential part of this work is sound. A sonic remix of polyphonic sounds from Portugal was used, including the polyphonic Choral Music of Duarte Lobo (Evora Portugal was where polyphonic music originated in Portugal), along with Fado remixes, including a rap poem about the tragedies of the loss of biological diversity in plants and their seeds.

Reseeding field and Forrest
planes fly to frozen lakes
10,000 years is a long time
The HONSU gene creates

We use evolution
to change evolution
CRISPR CRISPR bloom CRISPR
CRISPR boom shine

On the plexiglass shelf in the middle is an actual rapid-prototyped seed shell.  Inside are seeds that are currently not CRISPR modified though, may in the future be modified at the Arabidopsis Research center at The Ohio State University. The unmodified seeds may in future include soil and bacterial cultures used to enhance the long-term viability of the seeds though for demo purposes any CRISPR modified seed would be difficult to travel internationally unless under strict control.

To the left of that seed is a living variety of plants in a glass beaker, showing the splendor of our current natural world and some which may be lost.

Why a duck in the main scene? In 2018 a study in the Journal of Ecology reported that Mallards pick up seeds while feeding in the water and on land. In an endozoochory process,’ some of these seeds are not digested and survive gut passage intact, allowing them to sprout after passage. It is now realized that Mallards and other waterfowl are significant vectors for moving seeds from lakes to lakes.

In this project, some seeds will be designed for dispersal by water foul with nutritious special coatings that will be developed based on the nature of seeds and how they can naturally withstand the digestive systems of birds.

Other seeds will be placed in wood/plant seed pods specially designed to open at intervals of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, and 10,000 years. Rapid prototyped seeds constructed of wood plant materials will degrade. They will allow these pods to dissolve once exposed to the atmosphere as global warming continues to melt glaciers and permafrost.

In some cases, airplanes will fly these seed pods to a height that will allow them to fall to the ground and melt into the glacial ice and permafrost.  As they fall, heat generated during their fall with the fins will enable them to melt into the snow and glaciers.

As the snow and glaciers melt, wood-based or PLA filament with bio based additives made from natural resources may function as the Cotyledon of the seeds to provide nutrients to the budding seeds. I am thinking of using filaments made from mussel shells, oysters, scallops, scraps of wheat, spent beer, and coffee grounds as additives.

In some plants, the Cotyledon contains high quantities of starch and can provide a source of food for the developing embryo before germination. At this stage, I am unsure if the PLA will break down in UV light to allow the seeds to regard this as starch.

Still, these will degrade and enable pods with CRISPR Cas9 & Cas12 seeds and pollen within to propagate new plants and start to repair the atmosphere with fresh oxygen being produced.

Problems with PLA or polylactic acid? PLA is a thermoplastic polyester with the chemical formula (C₃H₄O₂)_n. While it is oversold as a bio-based biodegradable biopolymer made from both the fermentation of renewable and natural plant materials, such as cassava, corn, and sugarcane, it is not so biodegradable. It will last in the environment for about five years before breaking apart. Some have algae that will break apart in about six months when exposed to direct UV light.

Given that no seed or plants bud in “pure isolation” though they are often surrounded by other plant seeds, complex soils, and bacterial cultures, I am also looking at many kinds of plant seeds in the artificial seed pods for both the CRISPR aspect of this project and the X-ray or chemical mutagenic methods used.

For one part of this project, I am focused on Arabidopsis, given the Arabidopsis plant has been entirely genetically sequenced and, therefore, can be manipulated using CRISPR.

Created by
Ken Rinaldo; Concept, research, 3D modeling, electronics, fabrication, Arduino programming, sound and song composition.

MUSEO EXTREMENO E IBEROAMERICANO DE ARTE CONTEMPORANIO Badajoz, Spain, May 18 -Oct 16 2022
Alter(action)  Spanish premiere of CRISPR Seed Resurrection curated and commissioned by Marta de Menezes

Exhibitions

EUGENIO DE ALMEIDA FOUNDATION                                                                  Évora, Portugal, May 18 -Dec 2021
Alter(action)  world-wide-premiere of CRISPR Seed Resurrection curated and commissioned by Marta de Menezes

Collections

Version 1 in the collection of Cultivamos Cultura, Lisbon Portugal.  1 of an edition of 3

Emergent Systems Team:

TradeMark Gunderson: Sound remixing and mashups, voice in song, Arduino programming.

Dr. Lam Yun Wah, Science advisor. CRISPR CAS9 and CAS12 bioprocesses and collaborative brainstorming.

Danner Seyfer Sprague; 3D modeling, lighting & rendering

Julian Robbins; rapid prototyping using a Crealty CR-6 SE and Anycubic Photon printers

Bruno Caragol: Frame Construction: Lisbon Portugal

Printing: McAlister Photo in Columbus Ohio

The Continuous War Train is 3D animation by Ken Rinaldo, which is about the US’s obsession with military power, a central part of our economy.  The dominance of our military-industrial complexes and our violent entertainment film industry are all used to sell and support the recruitment of young boys and girls to believe violence is a solution to political disagreements.

The work starts innocently with a colorful train pulling conventional weapons and new robotic and space arms, moving through a midwestern town. In this film, the screeching of train wheels devolve into the sounds of a woman screaming, machine-gun fire, and babies crying as the never-ending train pulls, Humvees, tanks, jets, rockets, missiles, and future space and robotic military technologies, all in the interest of “defense” and “security.”

The continuous war train elements are interspersed with footage of how companies sell military goods, 3D animation allusions to contemporary film superheroes, historical footage of WWII, and eventually actual war footage of current wars on our planet. The soundtrack underscores the animation and live-action, creating an emotionally charged work.

The train is slowly rumbling through a sleepy Midwestern town, and here the real and the imagined are on parade, as sold by contemporary military companies and bolstered by footage of first-person shooter games. Sadly, shooter games are one primary recruitment tool for worldwide militaries.

In this illusory world, all individuals seem to be THE hero. War is presented in an ironic and often heroic fashion.

Contemporary Hollywood movies create motivation for our children, selling the notion of “the hero” and the power of the military machine. At the same time, suicide still remains the leading cause of war-associated death in the US.

At the train-crossing, where red lights are flashing, cars are backed up on crumbling asphalt, and as the train passes, so do night and day. In the far background are a derelict farmhouse in a wheat field and a second-hand shop on the main street. Given military expenditures, this is now where the middle class can afford to shop for clothing and household goods.

The sounds in this animation are composed of train wheels squeaking and thumping on rusty steel tracks,  conflated with human shrieks, women, and babies crying intermixed with the sounds of war and bombs.

This animation comes about amidst the recent announcement of a new Space Force and is influenced by the American entertainment industry, which is obsessed with violence and war.

Still, the US is not alone, and other countries are also part of this international obsession with developing and using these senseless means of conflict resolution: The numbers below are in billions spent. Sad that the US outspends the next 12 nations combined.

1	United States	602.8
2	People’s Republic of China	150.5
3	Saudi Arabia	76.7
4	Russia	61.2
5	India	52.5
6	United Kingdom	50.7
7	France	48.6
8	Japan	46.0
9	Germany	41.7
10	South Korea	35.7
11	Brazil	29.4
12	Australia	25.0
13	Italy	22.9
14	Israel	21.6
15	Iraq	19.4

This vision of the US and Russia driving arms sales is also sobering and sad.

The superhero genre figures prominently in the American psyche, and war heroes continue to be celebrated.

The manufacture of fear, the American infatuation with military might, and the unbridled worldwide military-industrial complexes continue to divert funds from human-centered social needs, like education, food, environment, and healthcare.

America continues to export a means of violence to other nations through our advanced weapons, all in the name of “security” and “defense.”

In 2015, the United States federal government budget was $3.8 trillion, with $598 billion spent on the military. Here there is an increase in the military of $681.1 billion, about $14,000 for each woman, man, and child living in the United States. The U.S. military budget is higher than the twelve other most massive military budgets in the world combined and more than 54% of U.S. Government discretionary spending. The power conglomerates of the private military and Industrial contractors employ a revolving door. This is not only a republican illness. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on July 14, 2022, paving the way for the defense budget to exceed $800 billion next year, authorizing $37 billion in spending on top of the record $773 billion proposed by President Joe Biden.

Government workers are hired as high-paid board members into these large arms-producing companies, moving directly from government jobs and becoming military lobbyists.

Sadly, this isn’t new, as war is a way of life for most of America. Even if you look only at significant deployments, we have been involved in one war or another for 37 of the last 78 years.

The Pentagon’s numbers show that during 43’s eight years, he averaged 24 bombs dropped daily, which is 8,750 per year. During 44’s presidency, the military dropped 34 bombs per day or 12,500 per year. Under 45’s first year in office, there were an average of 121 bombs dropped per day, for an annual total of 44,096, or one every 12 minutes. Under 46’s rule the bombs have slowed given s withdrawal from Afghanistan.

We are constantly at war, even as we experience a state of relative peace in our hometowns.

As global warming is now considered the primary threat to national and international health and security and food and water will become increasingly scarce, I believe we need to realign our national priorities and stop this Continuous War Train in its tracks.

We can do this by voting and speaking to values of peace and non-violent means of change.

We can only oppose acts of violence with nonviolent means.

About: Special thanks to Emily Subr, who worked as an intern for this project during the summer of 2018 and the Fall of 2018. She worked tirelessly on the scenes for the town and created many test-renders and scenes in this animation, including the scenes where cars are backing up to the lights. She worked doing and animating trains and cameras. Special thanks to TradeMark Gunderson, who collected sound for this project and mixed in the 5.1 sound, as well as helped me select the composers and sound sequences. Special thanks to Danner Seyfer Sprague, who worked on animating trains and cameras and many test renders. Specials thanks to interns Song Chow and Laura Black, who worked getting military goods placed on train cars and textured mapped other vehicles.

Special thanks to the curator Jun-Jieh Wang who commissioned this work for this former Airforce Base, and assistant curator Ye Ren Yu for his fantastic assistance in getting it all complete.

Thanks to curator Maria Campitelli at Salone Delgi Incanti and curator Antonio Cerveira Pinto New Art Festival 18 who brought this work into their exhibitions.

Exhibitions

B3 BIENNALE OF MOVING IMAGE   Frankfurt, Germany, Oct 12-18, 2020
The Truth Exhibition invites The Continuous War Train premiere in Germany, curated by Prof. Bernd Kracke and Anna-Katharina Gerson with support from HfG Offenbach.

SPACE: WILLING N DEALING                                                   Seoul, Korea March 4-April 4, 2020
The continuous War Train animation invited and curated by Minkyung Choi

DA FESTIVAL                                                                                                                  Sophia, Bulgaria,  Oct 2019
The 3D animation; the Continuous War Train. Invited by curator Galina Dimitrova-Dimova

THE URBAN ART SPACE                                                                                               Columbus, Ohio Sept 2019
Faculty of the Department of Art exhibition showing the 3D animation of the Continuous War Train.

SALONE DELGI INCANTI,                                                                                             Trieste, Italy, November 17-28 2018
The European premiere of the Continuous War Train and Pheromone Robot Stories was invited and curated by Maria Campitelli.

MUSEU DE HISTORIA NATURAL E DA CIENCIA                                                          Lisbon, Portugal, November 9-30 2018
The New Art Festival shows the Continuous War Train  curated by ANTÓNIO CERVEIRA PINTO & GUSTAVO ROMANO.

TAIWAN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE LAB,                                                              Taipei, Taiwan, Nov 9 2018-Jan, 27, 2018
Re-Base: When Experiments Become Attitude worldwide premiere of the Continuous War Train invited and commissioned by curator Jun-Jieh Wang

Ken Rinaldo 2018; Concept, 3D modeling, train animation, camera animation, sound, asset acquisitions, rendering, and direction.

Interns and studio Assistants

 Emily Subr; 3D animator, modeler, town staging and modeling, lighting, train rigging, rendering, and nature scenography

 TradeMark Gunderson; 5.1 surround sound engineering, video compositing, editing, and sound.

 Danner Seyffer Sprague 3D modeling, train rigging, and asset management and discovery

Interns:

  Laura Black 3D modeling, and asset management, research

  Song Chow 3D modeling, and asset management, research

Music Samples from:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Requiem in D Minor 626

Henryk Górecki Requiem for a Polka

Krzysztof Penderecki Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima

These miniature rivers circulate water and dissolved nutrients used by the mosses. As mosses are also hyperaccumulators, the mosses cleanse the microplastics from the water and other industrial-strength toxins potentially leaking into the water.

I am reusing and embracing plastic by upcycling what I have purchased and feel responsible for. While a romantic notion, these works do not offer real solutions to global plastic waste, though they serve more as an example of the possibilities for reuse.

The placement of the cow bone in the image above refers to the notion that all of these things, the metals, the industrial chemicals, etc., are part and parcel of what is flowing through us. It is now well-established science that microplastics enter all our bodies at the cellular level.

The PET plastic in this work melted and shaped with a heat gun appears as glass at first sight, though it has none of the preciousness or weighty aspects of glass, though all of the clarity.

There is so much to love about mosses. The rain and water cling to the deep green strands while holding moisture close to the surface of the stones. The moss mats collect dust, nutrients, and debris as they grow, shrink, decompose, and form rich hummus.

It is further notable that humans have discovered that mosses have natural antifreeze.

The chemical processes that are part of the nature of mosses in slowly breaking the rocks into sand and smaller grains are quite poetic to me.

They are preparing and making their own soil while conditioning their living place with their waste.

Mosses can also be a host to many other living things, making them a living foundation with soil as a battery.

A single clump of moss about the size of a baseball can contain over a quarter million microscopic beings. Moss is also quite resilient as it can lose 98% of its water and still survive dormant for decades.

Give moss some water, and it will bounce back to green.

Moss has no vasculature like regular leaves but rather absorbs water through the cell walls of their leaves while wicking moisture throughout their mats with the water’s surface tension physics allowing them to soak their filamentous shapes.

The epiphytes that are also part of this installation sit in drilled-out branches, and the branches have living lichen on them.

I am excited about the lichen and its relation to the mosses in this work as well as the filtration capabilities of the lucky bamboo.

A micrograph of the epiphyte reveals the trichomes evolved to collect moisture from the air.

Some of the gardens have miniature logs with sustenance in rotting bark and logs being also absorbed over time by the moss.

THE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER                                                                              Columbus, Ohio Sept 26, 2018
“Hypotheses: art inspired by the many worlds of Science” curated by Amandda Leigh Tirey invites the premiere of Spider Haus Movies, Borderless Bacteria, and Colonialist Cash the Rivers Run Through us, Moss Gardens.