I like to think of a cybernetic meadow
«… where mammals and computers live together in mutually programming harmony like pure water touching clear sky.»
Across their various projects, the art collective terra0 explores how economy and ecology intertwine. Since their inception in 2015, terra0 has explored how ecosystems can become economic agents and engages in questions of collective ownership. Their first work, terra0 whitepaper (2016), proposed a self-utilizing forest which, with the help of sensors and smart contracts, sells logging licenses and ultimately accumulates capital. Later works have iterated and reflected back on the claims set forth in the whitepaper, continuing to center on emerging technologies’ potential to support new forms of ownership, and the different conceptions of agency they may thus entail. Throughout their practice today, terra0 raises questions around autonomy and agency in culture and law; novel distributions of ownership; and regard for the natural world within and beyond market capitalism.
I like to think of a cybernetic forest
«… filled with pines and electronics where deer stroll peacefully past computers as if they were flowers with spinning blossoms.»
projects
- terra0 white paper (2016)
- Can an augmented forest own and utilise itself?
- Flowertokens (2018)
- An experimental project centered around the tokenization and verification of natural commodities, and an early attempt at creating a combined crypto-collectible physical asset in 2018.
- Premna Daemon (2018)
- Project about an augmented Premna Microphylla, originally developed for the Proof of Work exhibition at Berlin’s Schinkel Pavillon.
- Two Degrees (2021)
- An artwork that burns "itself" when the average global temperature reaches 2°C above average.
- Seed Capital (2022)
- A sculpture that suggests ways to rethink the economic and ecological relationships between viewers, the institution and the artwork.
- A tree; a corporation; a person (2022)
- A public sculpture that tests the limits of legal personhood in the US.
- Conditional Power (2024 – ongoing)
- A series of works, exploring the connection between global environmental changes and the art market.
- Autonomous Forest (2025 | tba)
- A work of land art that leverages the collective power of people to enable the autonomy of forests.
I like to think of a cybernetic ecology
«… where we are free of our labors and joined back to nature, returned to our mammal brothers and sisters, and all watched over by machines of loving grace.»
terra0 has been exhibited at the 58th Carnegie International, the 17th International Architecture Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia, Canadian Centre for Architecture Montreal, The Shed New York City, Kunsthalle Zürich, Francisco Carolinum Linz, Chronus Art Center Shanghai, Furtherfield Gallery London, Schinkel Pavillon Berlin, and Vienna Biennale, among others.
- Selected press:
- Artists Re:Thinking the Blockchain (terra0 – Can an Augmented Forest Own and Utilize Itself?)
- The Art Newspaper – The Carnegie International takes on the era of US superpower
- Outland Magazine – Simon Denny & terra0 in conversation
- Canadian Centre for Architecture – Can an augmented forest own and utilize itself?
- The Avery Review – Forest Governmentality and the Struggle for More-Than-Human Sovereignty
- REALTY: beyond the traditional blueprints of art & gentrification
- The Quietus – The Possibility Of A Forest: Unsound 2017
- Hyperallergic – What Blockchain Means for Contemporary Art
- Süddeutsche Zeitung – Digitalisierte Natur: Ein Wald, der sich selbst abholzt - und verkauft
- Forbes – Decentralized Artificial Intelligence Is Coming: Here’s What You Need To Know
- We Make Money Not Art – Survival of the Fittest Nature and High-Tech in Contemporary Art
- Reallife Mag
- The New Serenity — Sorry Press
- The press kit with image material and exhibition views can be found here.
Right now, please! It has to be!*
- Paul Seidler
- plsdlr.net
- Paul Kolling
- paulkolling.com
- Until 2021, Max Hampshire was an integral part of terra0. The website and corporate identity were designed by Johannes Wilke. The website was coded by Andi Rückel and Gregor Finger, who both also contributed to Flowertokens.
*Excerpts from 'All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace' by Richard Brautigan.