_econtinuum EXHIBITION

e-SEED is a seed that uses electricity to stimulate its growth, that is provided by synthetic photosynthesis. e-SEED demonstrates the evolution of photosynthesis, a process of changes that follow one another in a very short time – starting with the powerful primal bacteria that made oxygen on Earth, and ending with the complex seeds of a plant. E-seed, i.e. a solar-organic cell in which an accelerated evolution takes place in a closed cycle, brings hope for greening dead areas.

e-SEED was developed by Ivan Henriques in collaboration with scientists Vincent
Friebe, Sandrine D’Haene and Raoulem Frese from the Biophysics department at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and trainee Emiel Gilijamse.

The video installation, inspired by the works of Donna J. Haraway, Ursula K. Le Guin and Greg Egan, immerses us in a speculative future in which samples of already extinct plant species are stored and presented in a virtual archive room.
It is a simulation of ecosystems created from the combination of technology and organic matter, in which the past and the future coexist in the present. The work provokes reflection on the beauty of the surrounding ecosystems and the fragility of their existence.

A book which – with the help of augmented reality – becomes the stage for a short dance performance. It’s an experience at the intersection of theatre, dance, comics and animated film. Minimalistic black and white ink drawings are combined with the white of the paper to show the virtual life of miniature creatures hidden in the imaginary world of water. Acqua Alta tells the story of a woman, a man, a house, whose ordinary life turns upside down when, on a rainy day, rising water floods their house. This poetic story tells about a catastrophe, unique and universal, as well as the fear of the violent and the unknown.

Production Adrien M & Claire B
Concept and artistic direction Claire Bardainne and Adrien Mondot
Drawings and paper design Claire Bardainne
Computer design Adrien Mondot
Choreographic performance Dimitri Hatton and Satchie Noro
Sound design Olivier Mellano
Computer development Rémi Engel
Paper engineering Eric Singelin
Script doctor Marietta Ren
Administration Marek Vuiton, assisted by Mathis Guyetand
Technical direction Raphaël Guénot
Production and booking Joanna Rieussec
Production Juli Allard-Schaefer, Margaux Fritsch and Delphine Teypaz
Mediation and production Johanna Guerreiro

The project is presented in cooperation with the French Institute in Warsaw.

A generative video installation inspired by the classic arcade video game “Snake”. Based on genetic algorithms and neural networks (AI), the system creates a generation of snakes that learn to eat apples and survive. As the snakes die and new generations are created, the snakes evolve through genetic algorithms (natural selection, crossover, and mutation) and develop intelligence and experience based on neural networks (an AI method based on the neurons in a biological brain). The installation creates four independent worlds where snakes are born and learn to survive. The first world is the control world where there are no threats from climate change. In the second world, the snakes experience the rise of the sea level. As generations pass, their world is flooded with water and the snakes try to survive in a limited space. In the third world, the temperature is rising as a result of global warming. This creates a hotter environment that affects and reduces the lifespan of the snakes. In the fourth and last world, there is an increasing food shortage (as a result of climate change). Some snakes are born without apples to eat and die.

In the face of climate change, large-scale computer systems are being deployed to understand terrestrial systems. Artificial intelligence is used on a planetary scale to detect, analyse and manage landscapes. Great hopes are placed on “intelligent” technology as a lifesaver. However, practice shows that dominant AI systems lack the fundamental insights to act in an inclusive manner towards the complexity of ecological, social and environmental issues. As part of a long-term research project and film experiment, the artist speculatively explores what an alternative perception of the environment by artificial intelligence might look like. Three different AIs were trained for the scenario: SCIENTIST, PHILOSOPHER, and the AUTHOR. The A.I.s each have their own personality and are trained in literary work – from literary science fiction and eco-philosophy to current intergovernmental reports on climate change. Rice brings them together for a series of conversations immersed in landscapes at the meeting point of nature and human interference. He invites the viewer to rethink the relationship with nature and use artificial intelligence for the sake of the natural environment.

“Ritual” is a simulation piece. It takes place in a familiar location, sourced from a Game Engine demo. The location is a combination of a 3D scanned physical location and components created by a special effects studio through the iterative process of 2D concept design to 3D photoreal asset production. This designed environment is decontextualized and re-appropriated as a ready-made. Seeing this hybrid environment without its original functionality, the artist intervenes on it with a series of gestures that span all scales, from land-art to miniature sculpture. Finally an ecosystem of new inhabitants, including a couple of mean hyenas, racing crows on Bird™ scooters and an ant colony, are set free to roam and respond to this fabricated landscape. Like a mysterious ritual, sometimes humorous, other ominous and ruthless, this ecosystem is continuously producing unexpected connections and results.

What can the “nature” of post-digital reality look like and is it possible to build a garden in it? An interactive VR experience that is inspired by the art of creating gardens – perhaps one of the oldest creative forms of human activity. The project explores myths, different aesthetics and forms of perception, combines poetry and generative coding to create a captivating and surreal utopian virtual ecosystem. The Entropy Gardens is a multi-layered audiovisual experience, and a space dominated by data – resembling plants, animals or organic matter – evolves through interaction with their environment.

The project is presented in cooperation with the Austrian Cultural Forum in Warsaw.

Sound is one of the main communication tools for most marine animals and plants living in the deep darkness of the oceans and seas. The installation Aquatocene. The subaquatic quest for serenity, the artist studies the phenomenon of noise pollution in underwater environments caused by human activity. The compositions are a remix of natural underwater acoustics, bioacoustics of marine creatures (including shrimps, fish and sea urchins) and sounds generated by people. Technological interventions in the soundscape of the ocean by ships, sonars and sonar cannons (used in oil exploration) cause enormous disruption to delicate marine environments and have negative effects ranging from whaling to the beach to the so-called ‘Lombardy effect’, resulting in some species becoming louder to overcome the noise, gradually increasing the intensity of sounds throughout the habitat.
We are usually not aware of the richness of underwater sounds. Our knowledge is limited to the sound of a wave hitting the land. In recent years, Robertina has made numerous recordings with hydrophones (underwater microphones) in waters around the world, in the Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, to highlight the environmental problems that result from socio-political and economic activities.

The Green Drawings- I pledge is a project that uses the logic of free market capitalism to reduce total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere. The current environmental protection policy counts on free market activities in the field of emission management. The annual amount of CO2 that can be emitted by a country is limited, and big polluters have to buy their emission allowances. Due to the finite number of such rights, if demand grows, so does their price. This in turn encourages corporations to cut emissions – if it is profitable, the market alone will save the world. For that to happen, however, the total number of emission allowances would have to be significantly reduced compared to the current situation.

This is the fifth in the series of Green Drawings presentations. In the first version, green drawings were available for €20 per piece. The profit from the sale was allocated to the purchase of emission allowances, which were then blocked on the market. In this edition, visitors can buy green drawings, exchanging them for commitments on environmentally friendly actions or introducing climate-friendly behaviour into everyday life.
In this edition, visitors can get the green drawings, exchanging them for commitments on environmentally friendly actions or introducing climate-friendly behaviour into everyday life.
In cynical terms, the project uses the same neo-liberal logic that controls carbon emissions to enable art consumers to buy a clean conscience.

The installation evolves during the exhibition – signed forms with declarations are hung instead of drawings on the wall, gradually changing the appearance of the installation.

Use the form to tell the artists about your plans to combat climate change and replace the drawing on the wall with your form.

AI, extraction, hyperspectral imaging, Google Earth, cubesat, space, anthropocene, post-anthropocene.

The artwork explores the hyperextraction of natural and economically valuable resources using advanced mining acceleration technologies by the means of hyperspectral imaging, artificial intelligence and data-driven decision making.

The need for monitoring environmental dynamics is now even more urgent given the acknowledged impact of climate change, sustainable food sources, and intensified need for green energy. Different visualisation tools exist for geospatial data, however, these are not suited to capture the complexity of hyperspectral imagery. This makes our project relevant, trans-sectoral and trans-disciplinary.

Hyperspectral data from CUBESATs equipped with machine vision in outer space are used to allocate deposits and natural resources on Earth with unprecedented accuracy and vision. As major discoveries of near-surface mineral deposits are declining globally, new methods are needed to detect economical deposits at great depths. However, this is challenging due to the relatively small size of ore deposits, the limited number of existing geological data at depth, and limitations of the geophysical methods used for their detection. Machine learning can aid in developing better models for the prediction of rock type and economical mineral deposit locations for extraction purposes without engaging in time and resource-intensive approaches.

The project was realised during the “Geographies of an AI” residency organised by the Onassis Stegi Foundation, 2020/21. Warm thanks to Daphe Dragona and Michelle Kasprzak for their valuable input. We also thank SCANWORLD for helping us out with hyperspectral data and images. We also would like to thank GOOGLE EARTH.

Production: Studio De Wilde © all rights reserved – 2021

What do the numbers tell us? Is our rational approach to mathematical systems and cool calculation the only possible way to describe the world?
These issues – still valid in the technological society – were considered almost two hundred years ago by Adam Mickiewicz in his unfinished History of the Future, a monumental work containing surprisingly accurate futurological visions, decades ahead of the works of Jules Verne and Herbert George Wells. Among the inventions described by the poet there were optical fibers – they were the inspiration for Jakub Woynarowski’s multimedia installation Sol Salutis (latin: Sun of Salvation), which refers to the Archimedean system of mirrors reflecting the “fiery signs” of solar writing. The book Hermetic Mickiewicz by Zdzisław Kępiński, devoted to the possibility of translating words into mathematical values. The narrative of Sol Salutis is based on the gradual decoding of meanings hidden in text-number combinations, which, combined with Przemysław Scheller’s sound composition, are gradually revealed to the participants of the audiovisual show. It is a metaphorical “receiving apparatus” that makes it possible to read a signal from the future.

The project was created in cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in five European cities associated with the figure of the author of The History of the Future: Paris, Vilnius, Rome, Istanbul and Krakow.

Projekt powstał we współpracy z Instytutem Adama Mickiewicza w Warszawie.

We exploit and destroy nature, increasing the risk of creating conditions that are dangerous to life and health plus the development of bacteria and viruses that are dangerous to us. The pandemic and fear of COVID-19 infection forced us to keep our distance, while accelerating the development of activity in virtual reality. Cyberspace (virtuality) is becoming more and more common in our daily life (reality), changing our perception and awareness of the body.

The work Freeperson connects two physical spaces via high-speed internet and creates a transmission platform for the physicality of the body. The user gets rid of the physical limitations of time and space, can move freely in a remote space while the entire process is carried out and monitored by a computer program and a machine.

After the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, the possibilities offered by remote-controlled robots began to be widely used. By using robots, it was possible to ‘enter’ the nuclear power plant and work safely on the recovery from the tsunami disaster. Freeperson’s work makes it possible to control a device thousands of kilometres away.

Freeperson’s work is shown for the first time in Poland.