Speculative Evolution

Speculative Evolution is a 3D simulation and art project in which hybrid creatures populate a simulated landscape. Artificial intelligence and synthetic biology help you to optimize and control habitats and species.

IMPORTANT: This is a simulation and not a game. If you are not interested in the concepts of speculative biology and artificial intelligence and how they interact, then this is probably not the app you are looking for. Everyone else, please continue reading 🙂

🌱 In this experiment, you can use DALL-E to create new animal, fungi, plant and robot variations
🌱 Through the perspective of an AI Agent, you can fly with these and the variations of all users in the 3D environment
🌱 You can observe what kind of creatures are created and what they might look like when artificial intelligence is used to create and optimize synthetic species
🌱 You can read the abstracts of the scientific publications on which each hybrid creature is based and inspect their lineages
🌱 You can monitor in real time how the ecosystem is changing and how many species of animals, fungi, plants and robots are living and dying in the simulation environment
🌱 You can see how many times you have turned 360 degrees - the more you turn, the greater the variety of species. And the further you move, the more species appear
🌱 You fly through speculative ecosystems and can explore future evolutionary scenarios
🌱 This virtual environment is endless and can be navigated in every direction. The sonic sound experiences are specially composed for this simulation and respond to all movements and navigation modes

🔥 ATTENTION: The simulation is pretty CPU heavy. Most old and/or slow devices get warm.

🏆 Speculative Evolution won the international competition: Expanded Media Award for Network Culture, Stuttgarter Filmwinter, 2024

JURY STATEMENT
Speculative Evolution is a speculation about the future in a 3D game world, insane and yet frighteningly probable, almost baroquely exuberant and yet scientifically sound. In the age of the Anthropocene, Marc Lee holds up a mirror to a society playing God and viewing nature as a system that it can control and shape at will. Humans seem to have the upper hand here; what at first appears to be documentation of a well-researched scientific investigation, sucks the unexpecting viewer into a system where they are implicated in the creation of an entirely new ecosystem consisting of both known and mutated species of plants, fungi, animals and robot variants using an AI plug-in. However, evolutionary control is lost when the creations start to mutate into human-like creatures through the embedded evolutionary AI glitches. This world is all contained within a portable and interactive mobile app with sound by Shervin Saremi.
In the face of blatant environmental destruction and questionable human interventions into our biome and genetic structures, Marc Lee shows how we humans focus on our food chain for our own benefit without regard for other living creatures or the delicate balance in our natural systems. In doing so, the artist arouses legitimate concern and unease, but also inspires amazement and deeper consideration for our relationship to the natural world. The committee was also impressed by the commitment of the artist to his world building which has taken place over the past three years.

SUPPORTED BY
🙏 Pro Helvetia
🙏 Fachstelle Kultur, Kanton Zurich
🙏 Ernst and Olga Gubler-Hablützel Foundation

CREDITS
Marc Lee in collaboration with Shervin Saremi (Sound)

WEBSITE
https://marclee.io/en/speculative-evolution/