Down the Silicon Meadow
“What if machines could learn from the cycles of a forest? What if they could carve stones like rivers carving their path, or grow like roots reaching for water?” - Diane Drubay
A story about coexistence. Down the Silicon Meadow, a new exhibition presented and co-curated by the OFFICE IMPART and Blueshift, opening this Thursday, January 23, invites seven artists to look, reflect, and explore connections between synthetic and organic systems in a universe where nature and technology do not compete for dominance but are allies. The exhibition runs From February 1st for seven days on-site in Berlin at OFFICE IMPART and online for six months, until June 27, at common.garden, with collectible pieces available through the OFFICE IMPART gallery on objkt platform.
The exhibition features various media, including digital animation, sound, real-time simulations, and photography. The line-up includes AFROSCOPE, Alexandra Crouwers, Bianca Shonee Arroyo-Kreimes, Cezar Mocan, CROSSLUCID, Nathaniel Stern, and Yoshi Sodeoka: “We tried to find artists who understand that there is no duality between culture and nature, human and non-human, artists who see everything as a whole and who also accept that there are differences among us,” explains Diane Drubay from Blueshift, co-curator of the exhibition.
“The theme of coexistence and collaboration between nature and technology is something we feel very passionate about, and the artists we selected truly reinforce that,” adds Anne Schwanz, head of OFFICE IMPART, alongside Johanna Neuschäffer.
Nathaniel Stern, Windows, 2020, staged photograph of temporary sculpture.
How to Live Together
“What if machines could learn from the cycles of a forest? What if they could carve stones like rivers carving their path, or grow like roots reaching for water?” – Diane Drubay poses. It’s hard not to approach the narrative proposed by the exhibition without contemplating it through a philosophical lens. Roland Barthes, in a series of essays compiled posthumously in How to Live Together, reimagines the concept of cohabitation.
“We wanted artists with compelling, expansive worlds and distinct personalities.”
For Barthes, living together is not simply an act of sharing space but a complex and dynamic interaction in which cultural, linguistic, and personal differences must be negotiated and understood. At the heart of this is respect for the individual rhythm of others—a form of coexistence, of survival of this coexistence in itself.
“It can become a fruitful collaboration when these differences are celebrated rather than criticized,” Drubay explains. “Finding artists who genuinely grasp this, who have a deep understanding and belief in this concept, was the first step—something that isn’t always easy to find.” According to the curator, the search also centered on artists capable of immersing the audience in their own universes. “We wanted artists with compelling, expansive worlds and distinct personalities,” she adds.
World Upstream: Field Diary #6 (Still from video). Artist: Cezar Mocan
In its careful curation, the exhibition features seven pieces—seven doors leading to seven distinct worlds. “Different immersive visions of what it means to live next to one another, what it means to truly coexist,” Diane states.
At the end of this article, you can find more artists and their pieces featured in Down the Silicon Meadow.
Online and IRL Experience
The works in Down the Silicon Meadow collectively create a landscape of interconnected ideas, where regeneration and hybridity dissolve the hierarchies between nature and machine. In the virtual environment, visitors are invited to freely explore a meadow, wandering between the artworks. “It’s very intuitive, easy to access and manage—you don’t need video game skills, so to speak. It’s a 2D environment; you simply scroll up, down, left, and right, and that’s it,” describes Diane.
“The real-time communication and the psychological space opened through interaction make the online exhibition experience remarkably similar to a physical one.”
Screenshot of the online exhibition on common.garden.
“Each visitor is represented by a colored dot, making their presence visible. This simple fact of not being alone in the exhibition creates a sense of community and social interaction. When two visitor dots approach each other, the integrated microphone is activated, enabling communication between them. The real-time communication and the psychological space opened through interaction make the online exhibition experience remarkably similar to a physical one,” states Anne Schwanz.
The curators’ concern with energy efficiency—a key issue for them—is also reflected in the decision not to duplicate content across different servers. “We basically just embedded the files that are minted or hosted elsewhere, whether on objkt, YouTube, Vimeo, or whatever,” Drubay adds.
During the seven-day exhibition at OFFICE IMPART in Berlin, Diane emphasizes the successful energy-saving approach used in Soft Mutations, the choreography of the screens: “We will have only three screens to display the seven artworks. And once again, we’ll create a dance between the different works and the different screens.”
Can Digital Arts Spark Global Climate Action?
“I’m really trying to understand how we can move beyond raising awareness and, finally, make an impact.”
Diane Drubay © Evelyn Bencicova
Diane Drubay is one of the most active figures in the Web3 space. An artist, curator, researcher, and environmental activist, she ventured into this world in 2021, during the Hic et Nunc platform era, after reading an article by Joanie Lemercier: “He said that, finally, there was a blockchain that was eco-conscious and a blockchain where climate and social activists could come together. So, of course, when I read this article, it resonated with me deeply. I began to get really active on Hic et Nunc, minting my own artworks and experimenting with new media and formats.”
Yet, her career in art and culture began much earlier, in 2007, when she started working with museums, helping them embrace social, environmental, and technological innovations. Now, with Blueshift, her research centers on how digital art can drive global climate action. “I’m really trying to understand how we can move beyond raising awareness and, finally, make an impact.”
Diane notes that most of the work she has seen is focused on telling new stories, offering fresh perspectives and fostering empathy. “That’s already a huge step, because if you feel what others are feeling, you’ll start changing things on your own. But I also believe it’s a bit too late—we need to move faster, further, stronger, and deeper.” The artist also believes that art can change behaviors, and exert political pressure for change.
A multidimensional platform
“Our main question was: What impact do technology and digitalization have on the art market and galleries?”
OFFICE IMPART, Johanna Neuschäffer and Anne Schwanz, 2023.
OFFICE IMPART is a member of the Gallery Climate Coalition, integrating sustainability into every aspect of its daily operations, as Anne Schwanz explains: “One of our interests has always been to consider sustainability in the digital space, because, of course, digital art wouldn’t exist without energy.”
Down the Silicon Meadow also marks OFFICE IMPART’s debut on the objkt platform’s galleries feature. "We are really excited about it and hope to experiment with it on different levels this year." In a joint decision with Blueshift, they have agreed to donate 5% of sales to the NGO OneEarth. “This will be included in the Smart Contract,” she shares.
Founded in 2018 by Anne and Johanna after more than a decade of experience in the art market and close collaboration with artists, OFFICE IMPART quickly established a clear vision for its business. “This, of course, helped us form a vision for our gallery, and we saw the opportunity to expand beyond the traditional definition of a gallery. Our main question was: What impact do technology and digitalization have on the art market and galleries?”
Operating online as well, OFFICE IMPART is a multidimensional platform that bridges the digital and analog worlds, working with both traditional and digital art forms. “It was never about choosing between physical or digital; it was about exploring how the two could coexist and enhance each other. This mindset led us to rethink what a gallery can be today”, she concludes.
Artists’ bio and pieces from Down the Silicon Meadow
Living Technology
AFROSCOPE, LIVING TECHNOLOGY, 2024, Digital Collage Animation, 2398 × 4260, Edition 25
The artist Isaac Nana Akwasi Opoku, a.k.a. AFROSCOPE, invites us to consider the spiritual and material unity that connects all forms of life. His work in Down the Silicon Meadow, Living Technology, reflects on the fluid interaction between nature and technology, presenting the human body as the supreme form of technology: alive, dynamic, and connected to the Earth's energy flow. AFROSCOPE explores themes such as decolonization, unity, information overload, and, more recently, the concept of deep adaptation. Using both digital technologies and traditional analog media in his process, community and collaboration are at the heart of his practice. The artist is part of several creative teams and cultural organizations, as well as working closely with indigenous artisans in Ghana. AFROSCOPE represented his country at the Venice Biennale (April 2022), exhibited works at 1-54 London (October 2023), Museum Ostwall in Dortmund (December 2021), the 21st Century Museum Kanazawa (November 2023), and in various other exhibitions.
Tools (v003)
Alexandra Crouwers, Tools (v003), 2025, Edition 24.
Alexandra Crouwers combines digital traces with early human tools to create a speculative time capsule of collective identity in Tools (v003), merging objects from her workspace into a single composition, scanned in 3D. The work is part of an ongoing series that explores technologies through time. It emphasizes and participates in the continuity of the "history of things," gathering ideas and objects – artifacts, tools, and expressions – to form a "visible portrait of collective identity" (George Kubler, The Shape of Time, 1962). Alexandra, a Dutch artist based in Antwerp, Belgium, is a visual artist and researcher exploring digital tools as mediators in attempts to establish connections across time, space, and ecologies. Her work focuses on immersive video installations using digital animation, but also extends to .gifs, emoji proposals, augmented reality, scanned models, audio, and text. She is currently completing her PhD at KU Leuven / LUCA School of Arts in Brussels, investigating ecological and virtual entanglements related to her family's ancient forest.
Vessel
Bianca Shonee Arroyo-Kreimes, Vessel, 2024, 3D animated video loop, 25 seconds, 3840 × 2160 pixels, Sound: Philippe Lambert, Edition 25.
Bianca Shonee Arroyo-Kreimes imagines hybrid ecosystems in Vessel that travel through cosmic oceans to spread life. The Canadian-Costa Rican multidisciplinary artist, based in Montreal, moves between digital tools and processes – such as 3D software, digital printing, and multi-channel video – but her practice materializes in various forms, including interactive installations, digital prints, sculptures, and augmented reality. In her works, dystopian futures intertwine with science fiction and Latin American folklore. Through her installations, Arroyo-Kreimes explores speculative fiction premises as a way to examine and incorporate humanity's complex and often contradictory relationship with the natural world.
World Upstream
Cezar Mocan, World Upstream, 2023–2024, excerpt from real-time simulation, sound, 10 unique videos.
The artist Cezar Mocan depicts a surreal leisure scenario of AI in a renaturalized environment in World Upstream. Set in a fictional future where the incorporation of artificial intelligence is taken for granted – along with the fulfillment of the techno-utopian promise of freedom through automation – the work questions what remains when labor becomes obsolete. Based in Lisbon, the artist and programmer uses generative narrative systems – such as infinitely looping animated videos, real-time simulations created in game engines or other software – to create worlds that recontextualize aspects of digital culture we take for granted, often absurdly, while investigating the power structures mediating our relationship with technology. His research process traces the origins of current thought patterns around (technological) progress and draws on media archaeology and art history. His real-time simulation work Arcadia Inc. was recognized as the winner of the 2021 Lumen Prize in Art and Technology.
The Ocean Has Never Been Binary ~ Oceanic Whispers
CROSSLUCID, The Ocean Has Never Been Binary ~ Oceanic Whispers, 2024 WAV, 17,2 MB, 00:01:33, Edition 24
The collective CROSSLUCID invites us to remix and essentially dissolve boundaries, much like the ocean reshapes its shores. Their work and research converge on the exploration of the "self" as a network; on intimacy and the potential for pleasurable fulfillment through the digital environment; and on reimagining our alliances with technology, seen as part of a symbiotic biosphere and post-material universal consciousness. Through explorations encompassing filmmaking, poetic artificial intelligence, collage and layered assemblage techniques, and experience-driven interventions, they create immersive scenarios and formats that challenge prototypes and experiment with possible futures, promoting metamodern values.
The World After Us
Nathaniel Stern, Beats, staged photograph of temporary sculpture.
Nathaniel Stern envisions a post-human recovery of digital waste, combining technological waste and plant life, and asks: "Where can electronics direct our environmental and economic policies? Can we plan and act towards new and different futures?" For over 25 years, Stern has produced, exhibited, taught, and written about art and technology, working on projects ranging from ecological, participatory, and online interventions; interactive, immersive, and mixed reality environments; to prints, sculptures, videos, performances, and hybrid forms.
Solar Arbor
Yoshi Sodeoka, Solar Arbor, 2024, MP4, 60 Seconds, Unique
Yoshi Sodeoka places birds and urban geometries in hypnotic loops to redesign the interaction between natural patterns and human-made systems. The visuals combine intricate vector geometric graphics with organic movements, conveying a sense of cosmic harmony and fragility. The artist, known for his innovative exploration of various media and platforms such as video, gifs, and print, expresses his deep passion for music through his neo-psychedelic style, which directly reflects his love and experience in the field.
Down the Silicon Meadow
Afroscope, Alexandra Crouwers, Bianca Shonee Arroyo-Kreimes, Cezar Mocan, CROSSLUCID, Nathaniel Stern, Yoshi Sodeoka
Co-curated by Blueshift & OFFICE IMPART
in cooperation with objkt.com
Online
PW to access: M34d0w
23.01. - 27.06.2025
Opening: 23.01. 6 pm
Office Impart gallery on objkt.com
On-site
Waldenserstraße 2-4, 10551 Berlin, Germany
From 01.02 to 08.02
Additional Events
23.01.2025 - 5:30 pm