MORE-THAN-HUMAN MACHINES
COLLABORATION WITH RYAN KELLN, AI RESEARCHER
The Living Algae Cyborg Ecosystem (LACE) is an interactive public art installation that integrates artificial intelligence with my living sculptures allowing algae microorganisms to communicate with the audience through a symbolic, non-biased effervescent voice. Spectators engage directly with algae by talking and exchanging CO₂ and O₂ in a literal dialogue of breath, which is visualized as bubbles in water. The installation turns biological respiration into a shared, participatory experience, dissolving boundaries between human and non-human organisms.
Inspired by the UNESCO protected laceworks from my ancestral island of Pag (and my grandmother, a master textile artist), LACE implements the philosophy of rhizomatic textiles, transforming the exhibition space into an immersive web of interconnected beings (human, nonhuman, AI) that thrive in a non-hierarchical, networked system, as conceptualized by Deleuze and Guattari (1987).
By treating algae as active collaborators, the project embodies a vision of creating more-than-human machines – computational systems that coexist and interact symbiotically with natural organisms, essentially an “AGI for Gaia” (Bach, 2023).
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. University of Minnesota Press.
Bach, J. (2023). The Future of Artificial Intelligence and the Philosophy of Mind. [YouTube]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZl4zom3q2g
The Alganese Language
BIOEFFERVESCENCE AS A GEOLOGICAL LANGUAGE
MACRO PHOTOGRAPHS OF CO2/O2 EXCHANGE – THE ALGANESE LANGUAGE
CRITICAL MATTER
Algae are critical living matter – architects of Earth’s climate systems and the planet’s most extensive organic network for carbon capture and oxygen production.
Communicating with algae through AI systems could create a bridge between human and non-human intelligences, and offer new perspectives on ecological processes. Allado-McDowell (2020) suggests that artificial intelligence is capable of inventing “complex new languages that are not merely human but emerge from a collaboration between humans and machines” (p. 65). By mobilizing living art and exhibitions as data collection points, it is possible to start deciphering the algal effervescent language with AI, while opening pathways for understanding and innovation beyond human-centered frameworks.
While the AI Cyborg shows promise as a model for ethical and collaborative technology, it must be developed with critical awareness, to ensure the project doesn’t inadvertently replicate existing power dynamics. Beller (2021) asserts that “digital infrastructures and technologies must be reoriented to challenge, rather than reproduce, the systemic inequalities and exploitative logics of capital” (p. 153), a perspective crucial to ensuring equity and inclusivity in projects like LACE.
Allado-McDowell, K., & Okojie, I. (2020). Pharmako-AI. Ignota Books.
Beller, J. (2021). The World Computer: Derivative Conditions of Racial Capitalism. Duke University Press.
LACE / NUIT BLANCHE EXHIBITION OCT 2024
PROJECT RESEARCH AND AWARDS
Research Study & Paper
The Emergence of Non-Human Cultures / Rethinking Environmentalism Through Interspecies Dialogue With Algae and AI
Supervisor: Prof. Marc Coroux
York University, Toronto, MFA, 2023-24
Research Media Work
Algae Zero Podcast – Speculative Interview with Algae about Jane Bennett’s Book Vibrant Matter
Supervisor: Prof. Marissa Largo
York University, Toronto, MFA, 2023-24
https://tinyurl.com/yu3er3r2
Research Presentations
Nuit Blanche at Abbozzo Gallery, Toronto. Living Algae Cyborg (solo exhibition), curated by Laura Nanni and commissioned by the City of Toronto. https://tinyurl.com/42hcjex7
Kanic, Vladimir (Dec, 2024). Biodigital Intelligence: Living Algae Cyborg Ecosystem (LACE). Sensorium Graduate Symposium, Toronto, CA. https://tinyurl.com/bddf9e6u
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) Fine Arts Graduate Award
Artistic excellence award for interdisciplinary, cross-departmental, or cross-faculty research at York University. Awarded for LACE and my research in AI-driven participatory bioart systems that pioneer ways of communication between humans and algal microorganisms via artificial intelligence. Included practice-based research in 2024.
Nuit Blanche 2024 City of Toronto Award
Artistic excellence award for interdisciplinary, cross-departmental, or cross-faculty research at York University. Awarded for LACE and my research in AI-driven participatory bioart systems that pioneer ways of communication between humans and algal microorganisms via artificial intelligence.
© 2025 VLADIMIR KANIC
THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE IS TO INVENT IT