Black Void

2. How does your practice engage with new technologies to connect with nature?

In the digital age, our perception of nature is increasingly mediated by technology. Our practice explores how new technologies reshape the way we observe, understand, and intervene in natural systems. We work with climate data (and digital twins), sustainable materials (eg. solid carbon dioxide as a material for biomes), and solar technology, using these tools to construct new narratives about nature, energy, and climate.

Advancements in satellite imaging, planetary-scale monitoring, and AI-driven climate models have allowed us to perceive nature beyond human sensory limits. From the TIROS-1 weather satellite’s first cloud images in 1960 to today’s atmospheric AI models predicting extreme weather, we have transitioned from intuitive observation to machine vision. Our project Twin Cloud utilizes meteorological data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, extracting climate parameters from hundreds of cities—such as greenhouse gases, aerosol composition, and humidity—to generate digital cloud sculptures. These sculptures visually encode how industrial emissions, oceanic aerosols, and urbanisation alter atmospheric conditions. In this way, our work examines how data-driven representation of nature influences both scientific understanding and cultural imagination.

Beyond observation, technology also enables humans to manipulate natural systems—whether through solar radiation management, or carbon capture. As philosopher Peter Sloterdijk noted, the desire to control nature often stems from human vulnerability. This paradox is evident in modern geo-engineering, which seeks to alter atmospheric composition to mitigate climate change, much like a contemporary form of alchemy. Our upcoming solar-based artwork examines how solar energy, once a source of spiritual symbolism, has become a commodity. In photovoltaic infrastructures, sunlight is no longer just light—it is converted into electricity, generating carbon credits, and embedded into economic systems. This transformation reflects a shift from natural cycles to engineered efficiency, from organic time to mechanical time. 

While science quantifies nature and technology modifies it, art reinterprets our relationship with both. In our work, we explore how nature is reconstructed through simulation, digital modelling, and intervention techniques. Just as alchemy once sought to transform matter in pursuit of deeper knowledge, contemporary technologies — climate engineering, digital ecosystems, and bio-fermentation—are reshaping life itself. However, nature remains an unpredictable force, defying total control. Our practice does not seek to dominate nature but to probe its uncertainties, visualising the interplay between environmental data, technological systems, and speculative futures.

3. Specifically how are using data and art in your work Twin Cloud ?

Chemicals from mountain fires, car exhaust, and industrial production travel far in the air, reflecting human activities. We have examined atmospheric compositions during extreme weather events such as the Amazon rainforest fires, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the Los Angeles smog crisis. 

‍Twin Cloud gathers global meteorological data from the Copernicus Ecological Satellite to create digital sculptures representing 300 cities, uncovering the intertwined narratives of urban life and natural evolution. The data includes greenhouse gases, aerosol pollutants, humidity, temperature, and location, which influence the digital clouds' shape, movement, color, and texture. As chemicals accumulate, a soft cloud can become chaotic and violent, symbolising human impact.

Audiences can learn about the chemical composition in the air, and the anthropogenic or natural sources through the visual. We have categorised clouds into 5 types:

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Type 1: Industrial Activities - Red & Orange Tone

Industrial activities release greenhouse gases, such as black carbon aerosol, carbon monoxide, nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone. Visualised as red-orange tone in cloud. 

Type 2: Urban Activities - Pink & Purple Tone

Urban activities release aerosol pollutants and secondary pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, peroxyacetyl nitrate, nitrate aerosol, sulphate aerosol, and organic matter aerosol. Visualised through pink-purple tone in the cloud.
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Type 3: Oceanic Activities - Blue Tone

Ocean-wave activities propels salt particles into air, then forming sea-salt aerosol. These particles then serve as cloud condensation nuclei and lead to cloud formation. Visualised through blue-tone in the cloud.

Type 4: Desertification - Yellow Tone 

Dust aerosol and ammonium aerosol lead to haze, fog and dust storm in the city. It may further cause soil acidification, water eutrophication and desertification. Visualised through yellow-tone in the cloud.
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Type 5: Lighting and Forestation - Green Tone

Methane and ethene and isoprene usually comes from a natural or agriculture source. Hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals are reactive oxygen species that shows atmosphere's cleaning ability. Visualised through green-tone in the cloud.

4. Why is it important for artists to use new technologies to engage with sustainability?

In the field of environmental governance, technological advancements are evolving rapidly. We primarily focus on three types of sustainable technologies: carbon capture, new energy infrastructure (such as photovoltaic and solar thermal power plants), and governance technologies. While technology can physically address excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, effective governance is essential for the equitable distribution of resources, responsibilities, and obligations. Addressing and exploring new environmental challenges requires close attention to these emerging technologies.

Carbon, as a trans-mediated substance, exists in various forms in our daily lives—ranging from fossil fuels and carbon-rich atmospheres to consumer products and carbon credits—spanning across natural ecosystems, industrial production, and global geopolitical disputes. Carbon capture technology enables high-carbon industries, such as steel plants, to convert emissions into solid carbon dioxide, returning it from the atmosphere to the ground and even integrating it into sustainable products. We have initiated‘Post Carbon’ project in 2024, a long-term trans-disciplinary dialogue, expedition, and research project, exploring the carbon material flow from sky to earth. It requires an understanding across different scales to grasp how this medium, traversing microscopic phenomena and vast astronomical cycles, can induce turbulence, cause death, and generate new life. 

Our upcoming project focuses on “solar energy.” Sunlight, captured and converted into power by new energy facilities—comprising precision instruments and chemical processes—becomes a resource within a capital-driven framework. Throughout history, the sun has not only provided heat but has also served as a spiritual totem, offering light and guidance. Against the backdrop of the energy transition, our work will use data-driven art to visualise the relationship between solar energy production, silicon prices in the commodities market, and capital flows—engaging with the political economy of sunlight.

5. From your perspective, what do the next few years look like for AI, blockchain and art?

AI and blockchain as tools do not fundamentally change art, but as topics and organisational frameworks, they will create new forms of art. Both will drive the emergence of an art form with decentralised, community-driven characteristics typical of the internet. Art will no longer be merely an object, but a system, a process. In this context, blockchain will transform the organisation of art assets, making them more interactive, scalable, and community-oriented, while AI will significantly enhance production efficiency and creativity. However, to establish a viable model, it will require the support of a more stable business model.