Naturally Artificial Intelligence Art Association
Anna POMPERMAIER, Cenk GÜZELIS. Be My Guest! in the Spatial Internet
Me AndOther Me will share their practice and research through their project Be My Guest! in which they investigate the confluence of XR technologies and artificial intelligence in reshaping our spatial environments and interactions. Be My Guest! rethinks an age-old gathering ritual: a dinner with friends, where an AI becomes the host and co-creator of the spatial experience and physical objects. The collective dinner transforms the private setting of home into a public domain, mirroring our current condition of dwelling in multiple realities and investigating how we inhabit and interact within networked virtual spaces and how we foster parasitic relationships with AI systems, redefining the fabric of communal gathering in the digital age. What happens when species meet?
Be My Guest! is a performative multi-location mixed-reality installation where friends from distant places come together through the Spatial Internet for a dinner with an AI entity named Parasite. Everything on the table, from recipes to conversations, from cutlery to objects materialized with ceramic 3D printing technologies, is designed and ideated by Parasite. Centered on gathering practices around food and online cultures, the project opens a ground for discussion about the emerging socio-cultural role of AI models and their integration through new media technologies in our future everyday social living scenarios.
Me AndOther Me (creative partnership of Anna Pompermaier & Cenk Güzelis) is a new media-driven artistic and architectural research studio exploring the future of our spatial experiences and communication through practical applications of social mixed reality experiences focused on online culture, post-human critique, and the spatial web. Anna and Cenk are interested in how social media and the internet have evolved to accommodate online communities in networked virtual spaces that have become alternative places to practice social and cultural activities and how these virtual spaces affect the architecture of our social lives and social selves. Anna and Cenk are architects, educators, and researchers at ./studio3, the Institute for Experimental Architecture of Innsbruck University, where they conduct practice-led research at the intersection of experimental architecture, contemporary art, new media, and artificial intelligence.
Yindi CHEN. Sentient Plants
Modern biology introduced a rigid taxonomy of living beings, which has produced speciesist hierarchies in natural history. Plants are often considered biologically and intellectually inferior to animals, especially humans. This concept of nature, formulated in Western culture, separates humans from other earthlings. Donna Haraway proposed the term “natureculture” to describe the entangled multispecies relationship, challenging the ontological divide between humans and nonhumans. “Natureculture” also urges us to use a broad, unruly spectrum of approaches to (un)read more-than-human worlds. How do we humans recognize the animality and queerness of plants? Can technological and artistic methods amplify and visualize the sentience of plants? In recent decades, artists have moved beyond the objectivity of science to engage in interdisciplinary practices. Taking the artworks by Isadora Neves Marques, P. Staff, and Candice Lin as examples, my research explores how re-imaging plants and their sentience can be a way to deconstruct dualistic thinking and open up possibilities for queer futurity.
Yindi Chen is a curator and art writer. Drawing from ecofeminism and queer ecology, her research focuses on how nature has been seen and represented in different cultures, cosmologies, and times. Yindi has curated exhibitions at Yamanaka Suplex (Osaka, JP), Subtitled (New York, US), Gramercy Gallery (New York, US), among others; she has also contributed writings to The Art Newspaper China, Whitehot Magazine, Cultbytes, etc. She is currently the assistant curator at Macalline Center of Art (Beijing, CN). Yindi received her M.A. in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts, New York, and her B.A. in Curating and Art History from the University of York, UK.
Tuçe EREL. Echoes of the Future: Artistic Interventions – Confronting Artificial Natures, Myths, and Ecological Narratives
“Echoes of the Future,” at Biosphäre Potsdam, examines the relationship between humanity and nature in the context of the environmental crisis. Set in a human-made rainforest that evolved from a military site to a horticultural show relic, the exhibition embodies contradictions of artificial nature and human intervention. Artists address consumerism, anthropocentric actions, and ecological exploitation through mythological references that critique inadequate responses to environmental challenges. Reflecting Jens Beckert’s analysis of the systemic failure to address climate change, the works underscore how societal fears and political inertia obstruct effective action. The exhibition uses artificiality to explore our disconnection from the natural world, questioning human attempts to replicate, control, and aestheticize ecosystems. The Biosphäre’s artificial landscape critiques the illusion of technological salvation and the commodification of nature, highlighting tensions between constructed realities and ecological truths. By engaging with narratives, myths, and aesthetic practices, the exhibition challenges viewers to reconsider the stories and rituals that define our environmental interactions. It urges a critical reflection on humanity’s place within ecological systems, exposing the need to rethink our cultural engagement with the natural world and advocating for a more symbiotic future.
Tuçe Erel (1981, Ankara) is a Berlin-based curator, art writer, and cultural worker. She studied Sociology at METU, earned her MA in Art Theory and Criticism at Anatolian University, and a second MA in Arts Policy and Management at Birkbeck College, London. Erel’s curatorial interests include ecology, Anthropocene, posthumanism, and post-digital theories, integrating her sociology background into her research. She challenges conventional methodologies, exploring concepts like bio-politics and ecological crisis through hacking and artistic speculation. Erel has been a team member at Art Laboratory Berlin since 2020. Notable curatorial projects include “Now You are Here” (2017, Ankara), “Hactivate Yourself” (2019, Hong Kong), “Leviathan: A Capitalocene Beastiarium” (2021, Berlin), “Sentient Matter” (2021, Leipzig), and “Echoes of the Future” (2024, Potsdam).
Liang XIAO. Tide: Generative AI as a Catalyst for Ecological Awareness and Symbiotic Science
“Tide” is a practice-led research project that merges artificial intelligence (AI) with ecological art to rethink human-nature symbiosis and advocate for plant rights. Utilizing generative AI tools like Gen-2 and Midjourney, the project co-creates with artists to transform environmental data into immersive art films that highlight the complexities and fragility of mangrove ecosystems. By interpreting these interactions, “Tide” challenges anthropocentric perspectives, fostering a deeper understanding of the entangled dynamics between human actions and natural processes.
The project demonstrates the potential of AI not just as a technological tool but as a collaborative agent in redefining ecological poetics. It encourages a reconsideration of plant autonomy and engages audiences in meaningful dialogues about sustainability and our interconnected future. Through this lens, “Tide” aligns with current discussions on environmental artivism, illustrating how technology and art can synergize to amplify ecological awareness and inspire collective intelligence for a more symbiotic relationship with the environment.
Liang Xiao is an interdisciplinary artist and PhD candidate at RMIT University, funded by RRSS, specializing in Plant Autonomy and Human-Plant Interaction. She integrates her personal experience with sociology and biology to explore themes such as plant intelligence, ecological crises, and Identity-dogma relationships. Holding an MA in Art and Science from Central Saint Martins (UAL), her work has been featured at major international venues including the London Design Festival, Shanghai Exhibition Centre, and Arsenale di Venezia. Liang Xiao is also actively involved in academic activities, delivering lectures at institutions like the China-Italy Design Innovation Hub (Tsinghua University) and the Central Academy of Fine Arts. She has presented her research at notable conferences such as HCII 2024 and Cumulus Antwerp 2023.
Vygintas ORLOVAS. Emergence in Interactive Art: The Case of the Exhibition Non-Human Communications
Despite the growing interest and popularity of interactive art, the works rarely get the chance to interact with each other and the phenomenon of emergence remains underexplored. This paper addresses this gap by examining the exhibition Non-Human Communications (2024), which was the result of an international workshop Emergence held at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. The workshop brought together 19 participants to create interactive artworks and to place them in a single environment, aiming to understand how such works might evolve independently of their creators’ intentions. Through the use of sensors, programming, and mechanical movement, the artworks in the exhibition began to communicate in unforeseen ways. Some interactions revealed the limitations of the technology, such as sensors failing to detect non-human actions, while other systems unexpectedly generated new forms of movement and interaction. This study highlights how the exhibition serves as a method for investigating emergence in interactive art and raises questions about the roles of machine agency and defined human authorship in the creative process.
Dr. Vygintas Orlovas is an artist-researcher whose current research and creative practice is focused on interactive art and the relations of sound and image. Vygintas defended his doctoral degree at Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2019 and is currently teaching and working as a researcher there.
He has been taking part in exhibitions since 2009 and participating in conferences since 2014, taking part in artist in residence programmes, hosting workshops and courses with the most recent places being Art Academy of Latvia (Latvia), Musashino Art University (Japan) and Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland).
Robert LISEK. UNPREDICTED
This research represents a major step forward in our ability to predict and control the propagation of light in complex environments. UNPREDICTED is an art project investigating the characteristics of light fields subjected to random fluctuations. Randomness is fundamental to many scientific disciplines and technologies. In artistic practice, it is used to create new textures and structures.
The installation entitled “UNPREDICTED” is a sensory experience that immerses the viewer in a world of uncertainty and possibility. The light field, generated by a combination of algorithms and physical phenomena, is constantly changing and adapting, reflecting the inherent unpredictability of the natural world.
As the viewer moves through the space, they become aware of the complex relationships between light, media, and their own perception. The boundaries between reality and simulation begin to blur, and the experience becomes a form of cognitive archaeology in which the viewer discovers hidden patterns and structures that underlie our understanding of the world. Partially coherent light superimposed on incoherent modes creates an otherworldly atmosphere, as if the very fabric of reality is being woven and unraveled before our eyes.
The project is not just a visual spectacle, but a thought-provoking exploration of the human condition. It challenges our assumptions about the nature of reality, free will, and the role of technology in shaping our experiences. By engaging with the installation, viewers are invited to question their own perceptions and preconceptions and consider the implications of living in a world where the boundaries between the physical and digital are increasingly blurred. UNPREDICTED is a collaboration of artists, scientists, and technologists who have joined forces to push the boundaries of what is possible at the intersection of art and science. The project is a testament to the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and a reminder that the most innovative and groundbreaking ideas often emerge from the intersection of seemingly disparate fields.
Robert B. Lisek is an artist, mathematician, and composer who explores the intersections of systems, networks, and processes—computational, biological, and social. His art delves into themes such as artificial intelligence, bioengineering, information theory, and quantum physics, incorporating elements like computer code, algorithms, artificial neural networks, and genetic sequences to investigate randomness and order. Lisek is a pioneer in art based on machine learning and artificial intelligence, prompting critical reflection on AI’s implications for privacy, agency, trust, creativity, and culture. Additionally, he is a composer of contemporary music, authoring numerous projects and scores at the intersection of spectral, stochastic, concrete music, and noise. Lisek is also a scientist conducting research in the foundations of science, particularly mathematics and computer science. He is the founder of Fundamental Research Lab and the ACCESS Art Symposium. His contributions include over 300 exhibitions and concerts, among them: “GOLEM” at ZKM Karlsruhe; “SIBYL” at IRCAM Center Pompidou and MAXXI Museum Rome; “APEIRON“ at Ars Electronica Linz; “QUANTUM ENIGMA” at Harvestworks Center New York and STEIM Amsterdam; “TERROR ENGINES” at WORM Center Rotterdam; “DEMONS” at the Venice Biennale (accompanying events); “NEST” at ARCO Art Fair, Madrid; “FLOAT” at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NYC; and “WWAI” at Siggraph, Los Angeles. robertlisek.com