LACE (Living Algae Cyborg Ecosystem) is a carbon-capturing sculptural installation that includes CO₂-responsive video projection on an algal projection screen. Inspired by the UNESCO-protected lacework of Pag, my ancestral island, and my grandmother's textile work, LACE transforms spectators' breath into oxygen — entangling living algae, spectators, exhibition space and art into a space of communal healing and hope.
The work asks what it means to extend the body beyond its species boundary. Rather than technology that enhances human capability, the LACE Cyborg redistributes agency through breath, carbon capture and oxygen production — the algae are not tools but collaborators, their metabolic rhythms shaping the pace and choreography of each performance.
Algal Languages
Algae are critical living matter — architects of Earth's climate systems and the planet's most extensive organic network for carbon capture and oxygen production. Communicating with algae through AI systems could create a bridge between human and non-human intelligences, offering new perspectives on ecological processes.
By mobilizing living art and exhibitions as data collection points, it becomes possible to start deciphering the algal effervescent language with AI, opening pathways for understanding and innovation beyond human-centred frameworks.
The Alganese prints depict algae at the moment of becoming — as they are being born and releasing their first bubbles of oxygen inside the LACE bioreactor during the exhibition. Each print captures a living event: the emergence of a new organism and its first act of planetary respiration.
