Machine in the Garden

Machine in the Garden brings nature and technology together in an exhibition featuring artist Simon Ingram’s Automata Paintings and a series of new computer-based works by Terrestrial Assemblages.

On display 18 December 2021 - 4 May 2022.

Terrestrial Assemblages is an ecological working group Ingram initiated alongside digital artist John-Paul Pochin to create sensitivity to, and awareness of, natural systems. The computer-based works featured in the exhibition, Tree Models, are evolving models of living systems presented on unboxed computers. A live Tītoki tree monitored inside Whangārei Art Museum under LED grow lights supplies the data for these works.

Ingram’s Automata Paintings are executed in acrylics on gridded canvases according to elementary cellular automata rules. The gridded compositions exemplify abstract art while also investigating systems that aspire to representation on a foundational level.

Cover image: Terrestrial Assemblages, Tree Models, 2021.