Infinite Herbarium

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Infinite Herbarium Morphosis, Immersive Studio, Museum of Contemporary Art, installation view, photo Jacquie Manning

The six channel video is presented at the MCA as part of The National 2021: New Australian Art, curated MCA’s Chief Curator, Rachel Kent. Caroline Rothwell’s Infinite Herbarium, created in collaboration with Google Creative Lab, is a project where generative AI, historical botanical imagery, plant classification and machine-learning combine to create infinite species of morphing botanical forms. It aims to expand our knowledge and connection to the vast and diverse botanical world  — creating connectivity to plants and their threatened ecosystems. 

Each video was created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) processes, drawing on data-sets of imagery from the open-source Biodiversity Heritage Library as well as a series of recently photographed plants. Analysing these data-sets, the ML model generated thousands of new digital plant specimens. The six large scale projections slowly morph between these specimens in a constantly mutating, evolving form. 

Exhibition Information at MCA

The Calyx, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

Caroline Rothwell, Infinite Herbarium at The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, 2021
The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney partnered with the project in 2021.
 
Infinite Herbarium aims to address ‘plant blindness’ and emphasise our connection to living systems that are fundamental to our existence and a participatory experience was developed as part of the concept. Through a process of interactive learning and art production, participants’ encounters with real world plants are filtered through data sets and historical archives using a combination of Machine Learning (ML) techniques. Participants are encouraged to document two plants. These are identified and information about the plants given to the user. The visual characteristics of the images are fed into a ML model that has been trained on the images from the Biodiversity Heritage Library to generate a mutating morphed plant. The participant can keep this animated specimen as a saved gif/t. 
 

In  ‘Live at The Calyx’ at Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, a panel discussed art, tech and botany. The conversation was had in the context of the Infinite Herbarium artwork created by Caroline Rothwell in partnership with Google Creative Lab. Panelists included: Rachel Kent, Chief Curator, MCA; Jonathan Richards, Creative Lead, Google Creative Lab; Caroline Rothwell, John Siemon, Director of Horticulture at Botanic Gardens, Greater Sydney. Visit Infinite Herbarium 

Visit Infinite Herbarium 

Beyond, Installation sector, Melbourne Art Fair, 2022

Caroline Rothwell, Infinite Herbarium, 2022
Caroline Rothwell, Infinite Herbarium Morphosis and Bloom Lab sculptures, photo Andrew Curtis
Rothwell_Infinite Herbarium, Beyond, MAF
Caroline Rothwell_Infinite Herbarium Morphosis

Invited by curator, Emily Cormack to create a spatial intervention that responds to the theme of djeembana/place as well as the monumental exhibition spaces of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Caroline Rothwell’s works feature in the BEYOND installation sector at Melbourne Art Fair. Presented by Tolarno Galleries.

The suspended sculptural installation evolved alongside Infinite Herbarium Morphosis. The handmade voluminous sculptures draw from the digital archive and lead back into the analogue physical world. Suspended, inverted and borrowing art historical vases, the embodied forms connect the human and botanical.