Nefeli Manoudaki, Mert Toka, Iason Paterakis, Diarmid Flatley

UC Santa Barbara

Abstract

Simulacra Naturae is a data-driven media installation investigating collective care through biological computation, material ecologies, and generative systems. Pre-recorded neural activity from brain organoids is translated into a multi-sensory environment of generative visuals, spatial audio, living plants, and computationally fabricated clay artifacts. Streamed biosignals modulate agent-based behaviors inspired by termite colonies and slime molds; rather than serving as direct control, organoid activity acts as a co-creative force shaping growth, form, and atmosphere. Clay prints embedded with solenoids introduce physical sound resonances, while a floor-level projection with real-time generative AI imagery and a dense plantscape invite embodied engagement with nonhuman cognition. Grounding abstract data in living materials, Simulacra Naturae reframes visualization as a practice of care that decentralizes human agency and opens pathways for ethics, empathy, and ecological attunement within hybrid computational systems.

https://doi.org/10.64560/41334425

Keywords