Ego to Eco

Part of a collaboration with Wolfgang Buttress Studio, Ego to Eco was envisioned as an evolving virtual forest reflecting the collective will to address climate change. Developed for COP26, the project transformed speeches from world leaders, corporations, and institutions into unique, algorithmically generated trees; each a visual metaphor for intentions, actions, and connections toward a sustainable future. The installation aimed to accompany the climate summit addresses with a living, data-driven artwork that grows with every new voice added.

The project task was to translate the artist’s vision into a functional and visually captivating generative system. Using natural language processing, each speech was analyzed into a weighted network of words, which informed a 3D tree structure grown via a space colonization algorithm. Inspired by over 10 research papers on organic growth and form, the trees were rendered as stippled dot abstractions, symbolizing the small but vital contributions that shape the whole. Built in Processing, the algorithm ensured that the only variation came from the speeches themselves, making every tree a faithful, repeatable reflection of its source.