Growing Through Algorithms: Reimagining Plant Life with AI Art
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i28.619Keywords:
AI art; plant blindness, AI generated botanical art; artistic innovation; digital art.Abstract
This article examines the intersection of artificial intelligence, ecology, and contemporary artistic practice through the lens of plant representation. Focusing on AI-generated botanical art, it explores how algorithmic processes counteract plant blindness and foster new modes of human-plant relationality. Plants are repositioned as active agents within digital-ecological narratives, disrupting their marginal status in scientific and cultural discourse. Emphasis is placed on the dual role of AI – as both a medium for ecological imagination and a source of environmental strain due to its intensive resource consumption. By integrating post-humanist perspectives, the paper frames AI-generated botanical art as a critical space where aesthetics, technology, and ecological ethics converge.
References
Achurra, Ainara. “Plant Blindness: A Focus on Its Biological Basis.” Frontiers in Education 7 (October 25, 2022). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.963448. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.963448
Balding, Mung, and Kathryn J.H. Williams. “Plant Blindness and the Implications for Plant Conservation.” Conservation Biology 30, no. 6 (December 2016): 1192–99. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12738. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12738
Braidotti, Rosi. “Posthuman Humanities.” European Educational Research Journal 12, no. 1 (March 2013): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2013.12.1.1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2013.12.1.1
Coglianese, Cary. “Deploying Machine Learning for a Sustainable Future.” University of
Pennsylvania Law School, Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 20-17,
May 2020. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3613804.
Colon, Jessica, Nichole Tiernan, Simone Oliphant, Ateev Shirajee, Jonathan Flickinger, Hong Liu, Javier Francisco-Ortega, and Melissa McCartney. “Bringing Botany into Focus: Addressing Plant Blindness in Undergraduates Through an Immersive Botanical Experience.” BioScience 70, no. 10 (October 16, 2020): 887–900. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaa089. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaa089
Crawford, Kate. “Generative AI’s Environmental Costs Are Soaring – and Mostly Secret.” Nature 626, no. 8000 (February 20, 2024): 693–693. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00478-x. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00478-x
Demos, TJ. “Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology: An Introduction.” Third Text 27, no. 1 (January 2013): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2013.753187. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2013.753187
Flanagan, Molly. “AI and Environmental Challenges.” Environmental Innovations Initiative,
University of Pennsylvania, August 23, 2023. https://environment.upenn.edu/events-insights/news/ai-and-environmental-challenges.
Fowkes, Maja and Reuben. Art and Climate Change. Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2022. https://www.perlego.com/book/3579969/art-and-climate-change-pdf.
Guattari, Félix. The Three Ecologies. Translated by Ian Pindar and Paul Sutton. Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350354531
Guzzo, Marina Souza Lobo, Susana Oliveira Dias, Alana Moraes, Guilherme Moura Fagundes, Walmeri Ribeiro, Kidauane Regina Alves, and Renzo Taddei. “Artistic Practices in the Anthropocene.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 49, no. 1 (October 18, 2024): 223–47. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-112922-112400. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-112922-112400
Han, Barbara A., Kush R. Varshney, Shannon LaDeau, Ajit Subramaniam, Kathleen C. Weathers, and Jacob Zwart. “A Synergistic Future for AI and Ecology.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 120, no. 38 (n.d.): e2220283120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2220283120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2220283120
Hao, Karen. “Training a Single AI Model Can Emit as Much Carbon as Five Cars in Their
Lifetimes.” MIT Technology Review. June 6, 2019.
Haraway, Donna J. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11cw25q. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11cw25q
Hue&eye. “Andrea Brewster | Flowers Blooming through AI.” Hue & Eye, April 21, 2023. https://www.hueandeye.org/andrea-brewster-flowers-blooming-through-ai/.
Jones, Jonathan. “Mat Collishaw Review – AI Plants Put the Shock and Sensation Back into British Art.” The Guardian, October 20, 2023, sec. Art and Design. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/20/mat-collishaw-review-fabricated-plants-put-the-shock-and-sensation-back-into-british-art.
Jose, Sarah B., Chih‐Hang Wu, and Sophien Kamoun. “Overcoming Plant Blindness in Science, Education, and Society.” PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET 1, no. 3 (July 2019): 169–72. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.51
Kanungo, Alokya. “The Green Dilemma: Can AI Fulfil Its Potential Without Harming the Environment?” Earth.Org, July 18, 2023. https://earth.org/the-green-dilemma-can-ai-fulfil-its-potential-without-harming-the-environment/.
Lima, Leandro. “Algorithmic Gardener: Hannes Hummel Combines His Botanical Pictures through AI to Create Dreamlike Flowers – Visualflood Magazine.” Visual Flood (blog). October 1, 2024. https://visualflood.com/post/hannes-hummels-dreamlike-ai-generated-flowers.
McDonough MacKenzie, Caitlin, Sara Kuebbing, Rebecca S. Barak, Molly Bletz, Joan Dudney, Bonnie M. McGill, Mallika A. Nocco, Talia Young, and Rebecca K. Tonietto. “We Do Not Want to ‘Cure Plant Blindness’ We Want to Grow Plant Love.” PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET 1, no. 3 (July 2019): 139–41. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10062. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10062
McGinn, Aideen, Lorna Donlon, and Joanna Kacprzyk. “Plant Memories: Art Co‐created with the Public as a Tool for Investigating How People Build Lasting Connections with Plants.” PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET 23 (July 2024): ppp3.10555. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10555. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10555
Michałowska, Marianna. “Artists in the Face of Threats of Climate Change.” Oceanologia 62, no. 4 (October 2020): 565–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceano.2020.03.003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceano.2020.03.003
MIT News. “Explained: Generative AI’s Environmental Impact.” January 17,
https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117.
New Phytologist Foundation. “Plant Love Stories.” Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.plantlovestories.com/.
Parsley, Kathryn M. “Plant Awareness Disparity: A Case for Renaming Plant Blindness.” PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET 2, no. 6 (November 2020): 598–601. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10153. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10153
Refik Anadol. “Large Nature Model – Living Art.” Accessed February 3, 2025. https://refikanadol.com/works/large-nature-model-living-art/.
Sachdev, Geetanjali. “Engaging with Plants in an Urban Environment through Street Art and Design.” PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET 1, no. 3 (July 2019): 271–89. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10055. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10055
Schoell, Heather. “Eco-System Upgrade: AI Plants a Digital Forest at NVIDIA GTC.” NVIDIA Blog (blog). March 11, 2024. https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-refik-anadol-gtc-2024/
Schrader, Adam. “Refik Anadol Launches the First Open-Source Nature-Based A.I. Model.” Artnet News. January 16, 2024. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/refik-anadol-living-archive-nature-2419482.
ScienceDaily. “Ecology and Artificial Intelligence: Stronger Together.” Accessed December 24, 2024. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/09/230911191010.htm.
Steer, Emily. “How Gardens Became an Artistic Metaphor for Our Dystopian Times.” Artnet News, January 29, 2024. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gardens-dystopian-art-trend-2419915.
Studio, Refik Anadol. “What Can Artificial Intelligence Learn From Nature?,” Issues in
than for Humans, Scientific Reports 14, no. 1 (14 February 2024): 3732.
The San Francisco Standard. “From Pandemic Plant Obsession, AI-Generated Flowers Sprout.” December 17, 2022. https://sfstandard.com/2022/12/16/ai-flowers-sprout-oakland/.
Tomlinson, Bill, Rebecca W. Black, Donald J. Patterson, and Andrew W. Torrance. “The Carbon Emissions of Writing and Illustrating Are Lower for AI than for Humans.” Scientific Reports 14, no. 1 (February 14, 2024): 3732. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54271-x. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54271-x
United Nations Environment Programme, “How Artificial Intelligence Is Helping Tackle
Environmental Challenges.” November 7, 2022. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/how-artificial-intelligence-helping-tackle-environmental-challenges.
van Wynsberghe, Aimee. “Sustainable AI: AI for Sustainability and the Sustainability of AI.”
AI and Ethics 1, no. 3 (2021): 213–218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-021-00043-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-021-00043-6
Walton, Georgina, Jonathan Mitchley, Geraldine Reid, and Sven Batke. “Absence of Botanical European Palaeolithic Cave Art: What Can It Tell Us about Plant Awareness Disparity?” PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET 5, no. 5 (September 2023): 690–97. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10373. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10373
Walton, Jo Lindsay. “Is AI Art Less Carbon Intensive than Human Art?” Medium (blog), August 23, 2024. https://medium.com/@jolindsaywalton/is-ai-art-less-carbon-intensive-than-human-art-3b7c61a4c333.
Wandersee, James H., and Elisabeth E. Schussler. “Preventing Plant Blindness.” The American Biology Teacher 61, no. 2 (February 1, 1999): 82–86. https://doi.org/10.2307/4450624. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/4450624
Westwood, Murphy, Nicole Cavender, Abby Meyer, and Paul Smith. "Botanic Garden Solutions to the Plant Extinction Crisis." Plants, People, Planet 3, no. 1 (2021): 22–31. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10134. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10134
Wullschläger, Jackie. “Mat Collishaw, Kew Gardens – Nature’s Unstable Beauty; Man's
Destructive Ingenuity.” Financial Times, November 18, 2023.
https://www.ft.com/content/7f2d7ffd-6a9e-48db-8c8e-eb4f33718ae1.
Zeidler-Janiszewska, Anna. “Aesthetics and Ecology in the Post-Modern Perspective.” Polish Journal of Landscape Studies 1, no. 2–3 (January 21, 2019): 7–13. https://doi.org/10.14746/pls.2018.2.3.1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/pls.2018.2.3.1
Zhuk, A. “Artificial Intelligence Impact on the Environment: Hidden Ecological Costs and Ethical-Legal Issues.” Journal of Digital Technologies and Law 1, no. 4 (December 15, 2023): 932–54. https://doi.org/10.21202/jdtl.2023.40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21202/jdtl.2023.40
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 AM Journal of Art and Media Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
AM Journal of Art and Media Studies ISSN 2217-9666 - printed, ISSN 2406-1654 - online, UDK 7.01:316.774
Contact: amjournal@outlook.com
Publisher: Faculty of Media and Communications, Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia
Indexed in: ERIH PLUS, EBSCO, DOAJ, and in The List of Scientific Journals Categorization of Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Republic of Serbia (M24 in 2021; M23 in 2023). Beginning with No. 12 2017, AM is indexed, abstracted and covered in Clarivate Analytics service ESCI.
