Vaster Tha Empires (2024)


9 MAY-10 AUG 2025
Other Intelligences
group exhibition, HEK, Basel

curated by Sabine Himmelsbach & Marlene Wenger
with: Alice Bucknell, Isabell Bullerschen, CROSSLUCID, Patricia Domínguez, Exploring Conscious Territories (Susanne Hartmann & Elena Victoria Pastor), Joey Holder, Špela Petrič, and Yiming Yang.


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16 MAY-26 OCT 2025
Rhizomes, Meshworks and Alter-Ecologies
group exhibition, Elektron, Luxembourg





 “What is the boundary line between what is alien and what is familiar, and from whose perspective? How can humans’ greater attentiveness to planetary intelligence shape how we care for our world, and those beyond? What are the perilous consequences of humans’ extractive practices of nature, both on-world and off? How do computational intelligences we build disclose that planetary intelligence in turn driving our exploration of extraterrestrial natures?

The artists CROSSLUCID assembled a bespoke, generative AI system to interpret themes in the writer Ursula K. Le Guin’s science fiction story “Vaster than Empires.” 

See the artwork here

Theo Downes-Le Guin reads an excerpt that conveys the ruminative but tense mood of the short story, whose characters are often in conflict with one another as they confront a profoundly alien environment. Through a delicate balance of visuals and implied emotions, we invite the audience to traverse the thin boundaries of self and other. The work aims to challenge our preconceptions about what entities possess intelligence to deepen humans’ sense of connection to alien Others in the vastness of the universe.” Berggruen Insitute

Vaster Than Empires“ was commissioned as an extension of the Vaster than Empires workshop hosted by Future Humans and Studio B at the Berggruen Institute.


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