Blog Entry Week 6

Notes on Back to Earth: Systems and Sprouts podcast

Jacob Kudsk Steensen discusses his respect for natural environments due to his upbringing, as well as the cultural spread of 3D video games as being paramount to his practice, which connects his experiences of immersion in natural landscapes with virtual mediums. He says that he wants his work to allow viewers to experience non-human senses and communicate a deep sense of connection with nature. He describes technology as being a connector between us and nature.

I find it very interesting how Jacob explains that while VR as a medium aims to completely remove the viewer’s perception from their physical space in favour of a virtual space, he is more interested in how AR works by enhancing a user’s perception of their physical environment. AR experiences can put further emphasis on interaction socially and with a user’s surroundings. He gives the example of social interaction enabled by his AR work The Deep Listener (2019) at the Serpentine Galleries. The experience allowed users to explore Hyde park with AR enhanced sound and visuals.

Steensen works with natural historians and field biologists — he thinks about stories in natural history and ecosystems, and how to present these stories in his work. Jacob says that many museums are now trying to preserve, or archive lost and diminishing ecosystems virtually.

Steensen highlights that while experiencing nature through virtual mediums allows people to feel presence and connection with the world, it’s important to note that these are just mediated interpretations of nature, and do not truly resemble or do justice to the natural environments which are diminishing or have already been lost. He continues to add that along with these technologies to document and virtually preserve, people can become alienated to the feeling of loss. I believe this alienation is for the worse as the experience of loss is very important to humans, giving us deeper appreciation for actors in our ecologies. Without the impact of loss, humans could neglect the diminishing of the Earth’s natural environments.

Yasaman Sherry suggests there is a beauty in making the imperceptible perceptible, which she explores with her practice. She is interested in life forms beyond human, working at the intersection of art and biology. She poses the question “Why are we not exploring the sensory ecology outside of the human perception?” This resonates with what Jacob Kudsk Steensen discussed around his AR work, which aims to enhance human perception of their surroundings.

Sheri takes a position against the anthropocentric worldview. Sheri explains that she is interested in thinking about different scales — time scales, physical scales — to see new perspectives. She tries to use these to challenge the human desire for control.

In the project Bacteria with a Nose (2018–2019) Sheri worked with growing yeast which produces smells, also grew e coli with a biosensor that allowed it to smell — so essentially it was smelling the yeast — an inter-microbial interaction. Exploring sensing outside of her own biological means.

She discusses working with microorganisms as almost collaborative — one must respect that these are not objects and will not give immediate and responsive feedback, such as through mediums such as painting or coding.

Back to Earth: Systems and Sprouts podcast https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/art-and-ideas/back-to-earth-systems-and-sprouts/

Deep Listener by Jacob Kudsk Steensen http://www.jakobsteensen.com/#/the-deep-listener/

Designer Yasaman Sheri on Building more Pathways for Art-Science Creativity (and Eavesdropping on Bacteria) https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/art-and-ideas/yasaman-sheri/