Ursula Damm (DE)
Intelligent Lichen
Lichen hand drawings on photos, drawings of voronoi diagrams, microscopic photos, computer
animations of lichen patterns, 2024
Pigment print of lichen with handdrawing, courtesy of the artist.
In an enormous and constant effort, lichens transform the concrete deserts of our cities into green landscapes. This project develops a contemporary visual pattern language for urban constructions such as walls and facades to create an aesthetic common ground for human and non-human (lichen) artistic activity – not based on Artificial Intelligence, but on Lichen Intelligence. Lichens only exist in symbiosis which is why we believe that the purpose of their activity is not survival of the fittest, but cooperation with the best fit.
Ursula Damm studied at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf, followed by postgraduate studies at the Academy of Media arts in Cologne. Since 1995 her installations respond interactively to architectural aspects with video tracking technology. Aside she developed numerous installations on the relationship of nature, science and civilization like «Venus I-IV» (part of the collection of the Ludwig-Museum Koblenz), «double helix swing» (honorary mention ars electronica 2006) or the «greenhouse converter». Her works have been presented internationally, e.g. at Goethe House New York; Chronus Art Center Shanghai, Ars electronica or ISEA. In 2016 she launched a permanent, interactive installation at the Metro-Station Schadowstrasse in Düsselodorf/Germany, and in 2020 a site specific permanent installation at EAWAG Dübendorf, Switzerland. Since 2008 she holds the chair for Media Environments at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, where she established a DIY Biolab and the Performance Platform at the Digital Bauhaus Lab.