We are delighted that Resurrecting the Sublime received an Honorary Mention in the Artificial Intelligence & Life Art category at the Prix Ars Electronica 2019. This year, the Prix received a total of 3,256 entries from 82 countries. We will show documentation of the project in the CyberArts exhibition at OK OÖ Kulturquartier, as part of the Ars Electronica Festival.

RESURRECTING THE SUBLIME in Popular Mechanics:

“Where do science and philosophy meet? Can our technological impact on the natural world have positive outcomes for biological systems? What does the future look like with genetic engineering? How about without it? Is nature natural anymore? Is it time to update old definitions of sustainability to include premeditated, scalable organism design?

These questions are addressed in a series of immersive installations designed by the Ginkgo Bioworks team in collaboration with artist Dr. Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and smell researcher Sissal Tolaas. “Resurrecting the Sublime” can be viewed—and smelled—this spring at fine art museums around the world. Each of the exhibits grapples, with the loss of whole biological systems, now reduced to bioengineered scents, that implicitly require the presence of a creature (in this case the visitor) to smell them.

“In contrast to a natural history museum,” explains the artist statement, “the human becomes the specimen on view.” It’s like the high art form of Gotcha! But more meaningfully, it’s learning from nature to build a brave new kind of nature altogether.”

Read more at https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a27155735/smell-flower-extinct/.

In an episode on Between Life and Death for The Pulse podcast, host Maiken Scott interviews Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg about Resurrecting the Sublime.

Local Hawaiian news outlet, Maui Now, features the lost Hibiscadelphus wilderianus in a special piece about Resurrecting the Sublime.

“Saving the planet. It’s not just the subject of passionate political debate. It’s at the heart of a growing number of museum exhibitions this year, including the works of old masters and exhibits built with high-tech innovations, designed to inspire artistic appreciation and a desire to respond to environmental challenges.”

In a feature on artists engaging with nature and sustainability for The New York Times, Alina Tugend highlights Resurrecting the Sublime, which will appear in Nature, the forthcoming Cooper Hewitt Triennal, opening May 10 2019 in New York, USA, and simultaneously at the Cube design museum, Kerkrade, Netherlands.