Terra Et Venti (2019)

a speculative research project that explores the role that synthetic biology may play in planetary-scale geoengineering and weather modification practices in the future. This artwork builds on the tradition of treating the genetic sequences as a computational and mutable database for artistic expression.  Presented as a multi-modal installation centered around visualization of Pseudomonas syringae and its ice nucleating ability.

This was presented at


Gallery: Computational Animations by Ong and Natalie Plociennik – artistic renderings of the biological processes of the P. syringae (acrylic plexiglass print)


Gallery: Hunt Library installation, as part of “Art’s work in the Age of Biotechnology” (2019-20).  The sound component is a set of parametric speakers that move corresponding to the x –y coordinates of the artificial cloud animation.   The screen shows an animation of cloud formation based on a particle dataset collected from an icicle laboratory (Stephan Morris) at the University of Toronto.  A plant positioned nearby is seeded with genetically modified (non-pathogenic) bacteria – condensation droplets in the cube are filled with the poetry-infected bacteria.