Belvedere Road, South Bank, London
Until 13 Sept · Free
A kaleidoscopically colourful digital artwork and a radical experiment in designing gardens for pollinating insects rather than for humans. What if we designed gardens for bees, butterflies and beetles, rather than human tastes? Pollinator Pathmaker flips traditional garden design on its head. By prioritising the needs of other species, art becomes a powerful platform for empathy, care and non-human agency. To bring this to life, artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg collaborated with horticulturalists, pollinator experts and a computer scientist to build an innovative algorithmic tool. The system generates unique, living planting designs – each a vivid artwork in its own right, built from a selection of the artist’s ‘plant palettes’. Ginsberg paints each plant to create a virtual artwork that you can explore from the perspective of an insect or other pollinator. The next step is taking these designs and planting them. The project launched in 2021, with the first, 55-metre living installation opening at the Eden Project in Cornwall in 2022, algorithmically computed to support the greatest diversity of pollinator species. Since then, new editions have sprouted across the world, and the artwork has expanded into video works, tapestries and prints. Ginsberg’s ultimate ambition is to create the world’s largest climate-positive artwork, and you can help it grow! Make your own living artwork at home, at school or in your community space. Simply follow the steps at pollinator.art to select your garden conditions and play with the algorithm. It then generates a custom planting scheme for you – each design created is a one-off edition of the artwork complete with edition number. Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is a multidisciplinary artist examining our fraught relationships with nature and technology by exploring subjects like artificial intelligence, conservation, biodiversity and the human impulse to ‘better’ the world. Her internationally exhibited work is held in permanent collections like the Art Institute of Chicago and has been shown in museums and galleries including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, the National Museum of China, the Centre Pompidou and the Royal Academy. Ginsberg’s accolades include the European Commission’s S+T+ARTS Grand Prize for Pollinator Pathmaker and being honoured as Royal Designer for Industry in 2025. Creative Intelligence is commissioned and produced by the Southbank Centre. Curated with PACT – Planetary Art Culture Technology.