Impossible Evolutions

‘Impossible Evolutions’ uses Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) trained on datasets of endangered Australian butterflies and wildflowers to imagine new iterations. These ‘impossible’ machine-imagined evolutions gesture to the futures we face as biodiversity decreases: there will be no further generations or modulations of these species. These works draw on recent awareness around ‘The Insect Crisis’ where a number of short and longer term studies have shown that the biomass of insects is the most rapidly reducing of all lifeforms on the planet - a biomass which is inextricably entangled in the broader ecosystems of plant and animal life, including within the food security of humans. The images have been assembled and woven into 3 tapestries that locate the pollinators within their entangled ecosystems. The works try to leverage the unexpected generative capacity of GANs to provide material outcomes that might deepen our connection to and understanding of the natural world.

Impossible Evolutions was first shown at Assembly Point, Narrm Australia between August 1-31st 2022, and the development was supported by an Australia Council for the Arts grant in 2022. It was also shown at Wild Hope at the RMIT Design Hub Gallery as part of Now or Never Festval September 2023.

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