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Phytopoiesis
Interactive plant and Artificial Intelligence
scenocosme : Grégory Lasserre & Anaïs met den Ancxt

Phytopoiesis is an interactive visual and sound art installation.
It is composed of a living plant capable of generating images using artificial intelligence.

Phytopoiesis generates images that are constantly renewed.
It generates prompts, and is interfaced with the open AI Stable Diffusion.
This plant dreams of hybridizing with human beings.

Phytopoïesis is an interactive visual and sound art installation composed of a living plant capable of generating images using artificial intelligence. This interactive artwork present a plant that reacts to the human touch. Sensitive to our electrostatic energy, it reacts to our touch and proximity with evolving sound characters and images. By being interfaced with a computer, the plant has the ability to send requests: prompts to an artificial intelligence in order to generate original images resulting from hybridization between plant organisms and human beings.
The images change and appear in real time on the screen in front of it.
Mixing flesh, sap, blood, body, leaves, roots, spines, hair,... The organic forms of the images evolve, creating a visual experience that is constantly renewing itself for visitors.

Our art installations offer sensitive interactions with the environment, in order to enhance symbolic connections between human beings and plant beings. This interactive plant installation hybridized with an AI tends to question the human/plant parity, and to shake up the established relations of domination and submission.

In this installation like in most of our atworks, we want to create a symbolic mirror with the body, in order to generate sensitive interactions that question our contemporary relationships with the environment.

This artwork is a continuation of our interactive and sensory artistic approach whith plants reacting to the contact and caresses of the spectators through sound behaviours.

Intelligence is a human notion. In fact, most human beings consider their intelligence above all other forms of life. In this interactive installation conducted by an AI, the visual and sound immersion of interactions questions the place and consideration of each living being. The hybridization of AI with a plant generates a singular symbolic crossing of flesh and sap and encourages us to dream of more balance, equality, and interregnum empathy.

In the book The Intelligence of Plants (2018) by Stefano Mancuso and Alessandra Viola, the «Pyramid of the Living» by Charles de Bovelles (1509) is mentioned, which still marks our conception of the natural world today: the plant only «lives», while the animal «feels» and man (above) has the faculty of understanding. And yet, as these authors demonstrate, so many aspects invite us to consider plants differently, to become aware of their intelligence, of what brings us together, from a sensory or social point of view.

In particular, we are touched and inspired by the work being done on the rights of nature, which can be called ecosystem rights or rights of life. They seek to give a voice to non-humans, considering them from a legal point of view as beings and not as objects, which is the case, for example, with trees.

This interactive artwork questions the evolution of art and technology, as well as the consideration of non-human intelligences. How could a living being other than a human have a specific relationship with an AI? How might a plant interact with it? Can the capabilities of a plant be increased through the use of artificial intelligence? In this case, can the plant be considered an artist?

If we consider that the artist is a person who creates artwork to express a personal vision, then an AI-equipped plant cannot be considered an artist. However, if we broaden this definition to include creations generated by automated processes, then the plant can be seen as an artist. In the case of an interactive artwork involving an AI-equipped plant, AI can be considered the main creative force behind the generated images. But it could also be argued that the plant is an essential component of the work, as it is the plant that provides the environmental feedback that powers the AI. Ultimately, it is a matter of perspective and interpretation.

Previous exhibitions of phytopoiesis

Scenocosme : Gregory Lasserre & Anais met den Ancxt - www.scenocosme.com