petrichor invited spectators to experience the awe of nature, yet also senses of loss of control in the Anthropocene’s forceful reshaping of earth. While these human-induced developments are highly unpredictable and only slowly becoming part of global political discourse, the work focused on restaging the almost forgotten and overlooked sublime. It illuminates the ever-changing possibilities of an unfiltered physical world through the looking glass of contemporary artistic tools.

The choreographed artificial fog created a dynamic atmosphere in the Art Park adjacent to Free Space and M+ Museum over the course of three weeks, influenced by changing local weather forces. The experimental video material itself consisted of abstract imagery combining minimal 3D animation and Gen AI processes, reminiscent of nature’s complexity as colors mixed and dispersed through layers of fog and vegetation.

While our perception of nature is shaped by photography and traditional landscape painting, petrichor reinterprets the genre with new means for the digital age. Nature is not perceived solely through the human sensory apparatus, but is explored for overarching connections through AI. The computer expands the “human gaze” on nature, envisioning a complex, intricate world from unfiltered information gathered and assembled into an immersive experience of environmental projection at Creative Tomorrow / SerendiCity in Hong Kong.