Since his appearance at the first edition of Palais Augmenté in 2021, greek artist, Theo Triantafyllidis, has been known for his ability to explore themes of isolation, sexuality, and violence through augmented or virtual reality works. With Drift Lattice, his latest creation, which uses real-time ecological data to generate a live simulation, we see him more committed than ever to the cause of marine ecosystems.

Maxime: Can you tell me how long you've been working on Drift Lattice? What was your creative process like? What challenges did you face, and what technologies did you use?

Theo: I started developing the idea for Drift Lattice about a year ago, though many of the core themes have been longstanding interests and part of my research. Main production took about six months.

Creating an artificial ecosystem for me isn't about designing a new world from scratch, it's more a method of slow observation. It helps shift me into a more contemplative mindset, carefully unpacking the intricate relationships between organisms and their environment. It's a humbling exercise, constantly reminding me of how deeply complex and resilient, yet extremely fragile, natural ecosystems are.

One of the primary artistic goals was to make this artificial ecosystem feel genuinely alive by introducing higher stakes and allowing multiple pathways for it to flourish or degrade. This approach was about creating more nuanced and sophisticated connections between its various actors, from marine life to human-made objects. Each actor, such as the octopus that is learning to camouflage in this new hybrid environment, and the cleanup drones performing the Sisyphean task of collecting marine plastics, contributes to the ecosystem’s emergent narrative.

The main challenge was navigating how to present climate-related topics without being overly didactic and emotionally prescriptive or aestheticizing catastrophe. My aim is always for the audience to form their own connections and narratives. 

Technically, the project is built using a game engine, leveraging real-time ecological data to drive simulation behaviors and procedural systems for kelp growth and marine life movements.

Drift Lattice takes over from BugSim (Pheromone Spa), 2022. What interested you in exploring the aquatic world? Are there parallels you see between marine ecosystems and the Internet’s autonomous networks?

I chose the marine ecosystem specifically because of its enormous scale and profound complexity. Oceans cover most of the planet and hold a vast portion of Earth's biodiversity, yet remain largely invisible and misunderstood. That mystery, combined with the pressing urgency of oceanic degradation, made it compelling to explore. There's also a personal dimension, my own deep connection to the sea.

The analogy with the Internet is intriguing: both systems are vast, decentralized, and involve autonomous networks interacting through their own internal languages and protocols. It’s certainly a metaphor I think about a lot, fluid networks, hidden depths, and complex interdependencies.

You mentioned being inspired by James Bridle and Holly Jean Buck. Could you expand on exactly what you found compelling in their work?

Holly Jean Buck's discussion of marine ecosystems and kelp farming for carbon capture directly inspired my initial approach to Drift Lattice. It suggested new ways of imagining the paradox of ecological repair as these technologically complex interventions.

From James Bridle's work, what resonated most strongly with me was his framing of natural, human, and artificial intelligences as structurally distinct yet complementary. The idea that these different forms of intelligence might collaborate, particularly in climate restoration scenarios, fascinates me. I'm especially drawn to envisioning interactions between artificial and natural intelligences in environments like these simulations, where humans take a back seat.

In his book, James Bridle discusses the concept of the "ecology of technology." Does this resonate with you personally?

Yes, very much. I find it crucial to think about technology not just as tools, but as actors within ecosystems, participating and altering relationships between natural entities. In Drift Lattice, this manifests explicitly through the drones, which perform endless, often Sisyphean tasks of marine cleanup. These drones aren’t presented heroically, instead, they simply become part of the ecosystem’s fabric, reflecting our complex relationship with technology and nature. 

source - translated from French