Visualise the Future
Co-Designing with Ancient Intelligence
Living Installation. Bio-Art. Speculative Futures. Digital Media.
“ Life was unicellular at the beginning; the origin of intelligence on Earth.”
Biological complexity on earth has oscillated on Earth over time, through great flourishings followed by catastrophic extinctions. The arrival of modern humans and our relentless resource consumption is leading to the latest collapse in biodiversity, and accelerating climate change.
Travel and exploration has always been essential for our survival as a species, but now more than ever we must envisage and a future of low carbon travel; enhancing our connection with the natural world to allow us to continue to explore without further damaging our planet.
Some see the future of efficient travel enabled by Artificial Intelligence. But what would the future look like if we were less anthropocentric, and co-designed our future travel with the other organisms that we share the planet with; harnessing their ancient collective intelligence to co-create a more sustainable future?
What if Nature Led the Way?
Visualise the Future is a living installation that challenges conventional notions of progress and intelligence, proposing a radical vision for future travel. It invites contemplation on a future where we move beyond anthropocentric design, choosing instead to co-create our paths with the ancient, collective intelligence of the natural world.
This work sparks a dialogue between the rapid evolution of human-made AI and the profound decision-making capabilities of organisms like slime mould. It asks: What if the future of our journeys was guided not solely by human-created algorithms, but by the earth's own intelligent systems?
Slime Mould as Co-Creator
This project specifically harnesses the fascinating intelligence of slime mould, an ancient organism known for its remarkable ability to find optimal pathways and make complex decisions - much like a living recommendation engine or routing algorithm. Through captivating timelapses and bio-art experiments, the work reveals the sophisticated, self-organising capabilities of these beautiful almost ‘alien’ life forms. It offers a glimpse into a world where human-designed AI engages with, and finds new paradigms for intelligence within, the planet's own evolved biological systems.
To explore the origins, process, and reception of Visualise the Future, including fascinating timelapses of the slime mould in action and insights from the curators:
Credits
Commissioned as part of a selected four Scottish-based artists to create a visualisation of the future of tech-enabled tourism in the next 20 years. Funded by Travel Tech Scotland - Data Driven Innovation.