fuse*
Herbario Novo is an integral part of the broader research program undertaken by fuse* titled Artificial Botany and will be presented in Marignana Project. The project explores the expressive potentials of botanical illustrations through the use of machine learning algorithms. Before the invention of photography botanical illustrations were the only way to visually archive the many species of plants existing in the world. These images were used by physicists, pharmacists, and botany scholars to identify, analyze, and classify the species. Although no longer relevant scientifically, they have nonetheless become sources of inspiration for artists who pay a tribute to life and Nature using contemporary tools and methodologies.
Refining the processing and integrating the concept of transfer learning with previously developed models, the metamorphoses performed by Artificial Botany appear to be able to imagine likely future evolutions, generating a special, unfamiliar imaginary of aesthetics; wandering over the latent, multidimensional space of neural networks, the system succeeds in restoring the intrinsic beauty of the morphological process, contained in the phases of transition between one form and the next one. On exhibit, a video installation and a series of prints that crystallize moments of the flow and reveal new chromatic features, also by exploring different textural supports. Works and interventions that produce a strong ambiguity with respect to “what is a thing”: a short- circuit between permanent and ephemeral, changing and lasting, unique and plural, natural, cultural, artificial and fantastic.
Text by Federica Patti
Testo di Federica Patti
PRESS
fuse*, Herbario Novo. Dagli erbari antichi ad Artificial Botany – Marignana Arte, Elisa Baldassa, Exibart, April 2022
Le illustrazioni botaniche, Claudia Meschini, Il Gazzettino, February 2022
fuse*, Herbario Novo. Dagli erbari antichi ad Artificial Botany installation view