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Other Intelligences: the artworks on display
Other Intelligences, a collective exhibition curated by Sabine Himmelsbach, Marlene Wenger, and co-curated by Maria Grazia Mattei for the Italian edition, and produced by HEK (House of Electronic Arts Basel) in collaboration with MEET Digital Culture Center, explores forms of cognition different from our own. Systems that perceive, process, and adapt according to logics that do not pass through either a brain or an algorithm. The exhibition avoids cognitive hierarchies, of course. Instead, it analyzes and discovers protocols of relationship: how do we dialogue with those who perceive time differently, those who process through the body rather than the mind, and those who think in colonies rather than as individuals?
In collaboration with the Consulate General of Switzerland in Milano.
The artworks on display
LOUNGE
Patricia Domínguez – Matrix Vegetal (2021-22)
A video installation that explores communication between humans and the plant world. Inspired by research in the Peruvian jungle with healer Amador Aniceto, Domínguez combines myths, rituals, and healing practices to open a speculative portal to a quantum world beyond binary logic. Technology becomes a tool for reestablishing dialogue between humans and more-than-humans. LEDs arranged in a triangular shape give the work a sanctuary-like aura.
GALLERY
Alice Bucknell – The Alluvials (2024)
A seven-scene video game set in a future Los Angeles affected by drought. Each episode recounts the climate crisis from non-human perspectives: the LA River, a fire, the ghost of P-22 the cougar, a pack of wolves. Bucknell uses modified versions of Grand Theft Auto V, 3D scans, and AI-generated scenarios that combine historical images of the river with pollution data. The work is based on research on the Tongva – the indigenous people of the territory – and their knowledge of the river ecosystem.
Joey Holder – Ambiogenesis (2025)
A video set in a post-human future where pioneering life forms dominate a surreal aquatic ecosystem: the water flea, the immortal jellyfish, the octopus, the giant volcanic sponge. AI gives voice to these beings that embody radically different understandings of life and temporality, escaping the cycles of birth and death through reversible and fluid existences. The title suggests the co-evolution of biological and synthetic systems in which AI is already organic and biology is increasingly computational.
Marc Lee in collaboration with Shervin Saremi (sound) – Speculative Evolution (2024)
Speculative Evolution imagines a speculative ecosystem in which AI and biotechnology collaborate to create and optimize species capable of withstanding an increasingly hostile environment. Using a simulator, the public is invited to generate living beings and observe an ever-evolving ecosystem. The project invites reflection on the human tendency to simplify complex ecosystems by treating nature as a system that can be adjusted.
Susanne Hartmann – Experiments III (2025)
Petri dishes where mycelium grows on agar-agar. Electrodes capture the bioelectric signals of the mushrooms and convert them into light pulses transmitted through fiber optic cables, making the activity of the underground network visible. The mycelium connects the roots of trees and plants in the soil, exchanging information and nutrients. The installation creates a poetic interaction between organic and technological communication.
Sookyun Yang – Exotic Species in the Robot Ecosystem (2023)
The Korean artist explores how technology can preserve biodiversity by using AI to design new hybrid species between robots, plants, insects, and humans. Yang’s work follows the approach of soft robotics, developing wearable devices that amplify human sensory capabilities. Through the sensory act of perceiving alien species, Yang’s work highlights how humans exist among more-than-human agents and suggests that empathy may be a path toward coexistence with exotic species in the robotic ecosystem.
Špela Petrič – PL’AI (2022)
Video installation of cucumber plants and an AI-controlled robot that interact in a terrarium. The AI moves colored balls that the plants use as support to grow. A Lidar scanner measures the plants’ development every 15 minutes; the AI adapts its movements based on this data but surprises with unpredictable actions. The work shows how shared living spaces are created and shaped through the interaction between plant and artificial intelligence.
Isabell Bullerschen – ipseria (2022)
A multisensory virtual reality experience: visitors sit on a vibrating cushion representing ipseria, a fictional life form with no fixed shape that lives in the mucous membranes of vertebrates. Users embark on a journey into their guts, reestablishing a connection with their fluid physicality. An exercise in “making kin” – creating kinship – with radically other life forms, according to philosopher Donna Haraway.
IMMERSIVE ROOM
Dotdotdot – Data Bugs — AI is a mirror (2024)
An interactive installation where the public creates imaginary insects through the movement of the body in space. The AI was trained with two datasets: generic images from the internet and a curated entomological archive. By approaching the eight LED pillars, visitors activate the AI, which generates hybrid versions of insects in real time (e.g., 70% butterfly, 10% ant, 20% scorpion). The images based on generic data are standardized and inaccurate, while those from entomological training are detailed and representative of real biodiversity. The work shows how much AI results depend on data quality and raises awareness of human responsibility in training intelligent systems.
