BERLIN.- "The Way of Flowers“, a new project by the artist collective CROSSLUCID, offers a fundamental reinterpretation of environmental art by linking generative hybrid plant-beings with real-world ecosystem regeneration initiatives. Rather than static forms, these digital organisms embody participants’ ongoing ecological engagement, coalescing into a shared memory of transformation.

Launching with three to five initial collectors or supporters—referred to as “Seed Stewards”—the project begins with the acquisition of digital seeds registered on the blockchain. Once released, these seeds are nurtured by broad, cross-community networks, allowing them to evolve through shared care. By purchasing a snapshot of a hybrid plant-being (a small contribution), participants not only contribute to verified biodiversity initiatives – the digital plant itself also responds to the interaction, transforming and integrating visual traits from the supported project into its evolving morphology. The result is a unique, ever-growing artwork: a digital permaculture garden sustained by ecological care and shaped by collective participation.

Each act of support funds ecosystem regeneration while simultaneously triggering morphological transformations within the digital botanical system. An advanced artificial intelligence—the Morphological Art Engine—drives this process, translating ecological input into visual metamorphosis and distributed growth across the network.

This technological approach resonates with the ideas of philosopher Michael Marder, whose work in phenomenology, environmental, and political philosophy explores the concept of extended cognition in plants. According to this theory, information processing in plants is not limited to physical bodies but emerges through chemical and biological interactions with their surroundings. „The Way of Flowers“ transposes this idea into a digital context, creating a reciprocal relationship between human ecological action and vegetal response. Through this, art becomes a medium in which vegetal temporality and spatiality can be newly experienced. Root structures shift, branching patterns emerge, and coloration evolves—based on authentic conservation data—forming a visual narrative of collective ecological impact. This living system thus responds to ecological engagement, transforming digital aesthetics into visible markers of real-world regeneration.

Moreover, it traces both imaginative and possible co-evolutions between different plant species and their biomorphological features.

The supported real-world ecological impact projects are verified through partnerships with organizations such as Regen Network and project selection is curated by ArtEcology, a global regenerative design studio. They include projects focused on biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, and ecosystem restoration, spanning six global bioregions. The Way of Flowers thus operates as a climate-neutral—or even climate-positive—artwork.

The exhibition at OFFICE IMPART transforms the space into a garden. Visitors can interact directly with the digital plant-beings and observe their live metamorphosis on two custom-built screens. Physical works from the series are also presented in dialogue with living plants arranged throughout the space.

At its core, „The Way of Flowers“ serves as a collective space of knowledge and care. It reveals the potential of art as a tool for ecological engagement—moving beyond symbolic representations of nature to establish verifiable links between artistic practice and environmental stewardship. Here, meaning arises not only from visual form, but from its authentically embedded narrative of ecological action—reaching beyond the institutional boundaries of art itself.

CROSSLUCID is an artist collective formed in 2018 that engages in highly collaborative cross-disciplinary projects in co-evolution with technology. Their work has been exhibited at institutions such as HEK Basel (CH), Belvedere 21(AUT), MuseumsQuartier Vienna (AUT), The Osaka Museum of Fine Arts (JPN), KRUPA Art Foundation (PL), and Chronus Art Center Shanghai (CHN). They are currently developing a new artwork in collaboration with RadicalXChange and Serpentine Arts Technologies.
Their work has been commissioned by the Berggruen Institute (US), Serpentine Arts Technologies (UK), LAS Art Foundation (DE), Google Arts & Culture, NOWNESS, MetaMedia (CN) and others and published internationally.