vivisystems
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Flowers, particularly orchids, simulate insects to attract other 'courting' insects to inadvertently pollinate their flower species. Botanically this is known as Pouyannian mimicry. An unconscious evolutionary development that functions optically by approximating what is familiar to the insect but has no conscious design. This natural phenomenon mirrors how, through the use of digital code, generative AI can simulate genetic mutation by producing images that evolve and mutate over generations of ‘breeding’.
These artworks evoke the tradition of still life painting, historically symbolising life's transience, while simultaneously confronting the potentially perilous realm of synthetic biology—where unregulated innovations risk dissolving the boundaries between natural creation and human manipulation, raising deep ethical and ecological concerns.
Photo: Eric Bergoend