‘Your System is a Garden, Too’ is a shy, generative & anti-interactive audiovisual installation, site-specific for the Disseny Hub in Barcelona as a part of the ‘Digital Impact’ exhibition, built in collaboration with ‘Antfood’ + ‘Artists & Engineers’.
Upon entering the space, visitors become intrinsically linked to the system. Their presence and stillness stimulate growth. The garden is shy of motion and will retreat if we’re careless.
The piece consists of four distinct generative real-time visual habitats and eight channels of interconnected real-time generative audio that interact with both the visitors and the flora systems to create a multi-sensory experience. Living flora appendages by Manuela Sosa are incorporated to heighten the multi-sensorial symbiosis across all systems.
As visitors step into the installation, they immediately become an integral part of the system. Their calm and undisturbed presence encourages the garden to thrive. The ecosystem is sensitive to movement and will withdraw if we don't handle it with care. [The garden is shy, be still]
'Your System is a Garden, Too' invites visitors to reflect on their role within larger systems, whether those are digital or natural, and to recognise the potential for growth and flourishing that comes from understanding and respecting these non-human intelligences.
The artwork highlights an important contrast between active and passive participation. The garden's shyness and the need for an active stillness from the observer are almost counterintuitive to the way people usually engage with interactive installations. With this, the work hopes to serve as a reminder that sometimes the most profound experiences can arise from our ability to quiet the mind and let go of our desire to be in control.
Every being is a part of an ongoing transformation, constantly struggling to unfold itself. The stability of the habitat is not guaranteed — the freedom of the individual must always be harmonised with the whole. It's about taking a step back and realizing that we're not the centre of the universe. The garden is shy, but in that shyness, it teaches us a valuable lesson about our place within the grand scheme of things. You are not the main event.
