Prompted Evolution

Wild Andean lupines, growing in extreme mountain climates, are an example of recent and rapid plant species diversification. With evolutionary botanist Colin Edward Hughes (University of Zurich), the artists digitised 100 herbarium specimens and trained a generative AI model to explore their transformations. In Prompted Evolution, AI-generated forms regain three-dimensional bodies as interactive virtual organisms. Responding to human gestures (via hand sensor) and environmental data — light (PAR), temperature and humidity — the virtual point-cloud plants continually change shape, light and colour intensity and behaviour, expanding beyond their biological forms. The title plays on prompt as both an impulse for transformation and an instruction to AI. As climate change challenges biological adaptation, the work imagines possible continuations of evolution: new forms of hybrid agency emerging between plants, algorithms, environmental data and human presence, expanding our climate imagination. Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits work at the intersection of art, science, and immersive media. Their practice centres on ecological systems, environmental data, and the relationship between technology and nature. The artists’ works engage with plant intelligence, atmospheric processes, microbial ecology, and planetary sensing. From scientific data, they develop immersive installations and XR environments that make complex relationships experienceable as spatial audiovisual experiences. Their work is exhibited internationally and has been awarded the PRIX Ars Electronica, among others, and nominated for the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year in Art and Science. Both teach and conduct research at renowned institutions: Rasa Smite at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), Raitis Smits as Professor at the Art Academy of Latvia. Together they founded the RIXC Center for New Media Culture in Riga, where they curate international festivals and publish the Acoustic Space / Renewable Futures series. Collaboration in AI model development — Jurģis Peters The exhibition is organized by RIXC Center for New Media Culture. Supporters: State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, Riga City Council, LG Electronics.