Nature Cognita is an R&D project that integrates biological and digital ecosystems. In partnership with the Sovereign Nature Initiative we build installations that turn nature into a digital artist

ABOUT THE PROJECT

ENERGY

01

Living plants produce clean electricity using a technology called plant-microbial fuel cells

02

Plants' energy powers environmental sensors that monitor their microclimate

SENSORS

For each peice of art, a non-fungible token is minted and exists while the plants are alive

04

LIVING NFT

03

GENERATIVE ART

Each portion of the sensing data is transformed into a digital art that represents the plants' life

01 ENERGY

In Nature Cognita we test an emerging technology called plant microbial fuel cells (PMFC) provided by our partner Plant-E. With the help of photosynthesis and the activity of bacteria in soil PMFC-systems allow living plants to produce clean energy

The project started as a series of science-art installations where plants in special ceramic pots were turned into batteries

02 SENSORS

One Nature Cognita installation produces enough electricity to power simple environmental sensors

This allows us to harvest information about the plants' microclimate like temperature and moisture on different levels

To access the raw environmental data from the plants please use the Nature Cognita API

03 GENERATIVE ART

Based on the collected data, the Nature Cognita engine generates digital art

For each new portion of the sensing data harvested by a human or by the plant itself — we call it "digital pollination" — an abstract 3D-model is generated

These models are digital representations of the plants' life inside installations and can change when the plants' microclimate is changing

04 LIVING NFT

For each new generated art, our engine mints a non-fungible token (NFT) that turns it into a tradable asset

You can earn these NFTs by "digitally pollinating" the plants in the installations, or you can buy them directly from the plants

When humans don't maintain the plants' microclimate or "pollinate" them regularly enough, all the generated art start dying and so do all the NFTs. Without timely human intervention, both the art and the tokens will burn. This is why it's called Living NFT

Note: all the tokens are minted on the Unique.network, an eco-friendly NFT chain built for Polkadot and Kusama blockchains