About the Exhibition
Over 600 vibrant prints and an interactive AI installation explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and ecological restoration in The Generative Tree. Created by artist Jenn Karson and her Plant Machine Design Group at the University of Vermont, the exhibition is a dynamic interplay of arts and science methodologies while offering a local Vermont perspective on a global era shaped by rapid technological advancements and worsening climate crises.
By transforming the gallery into an “art lab,” the exhibition empowers visitors to discover how interdisciplinary thinking enriches our understanding of contemporary life and sparks vital conversations about our shared future.
Full press release
Plan Your Visit!
It’s never been a secret that the Waterbury-Stowe area has many wonderful places to visit, after all, it is home to the Ben and Jerry’s factory! However, even Vermonters may be surprised to learn the Boston Globe recently named Waterbury one of the best foodie towns in New England. Wonderful restaurants have sprouted up in recent years — plan your gallery visit with a lunch or dinner out! Note that the gallery is not open on Saturdays.
More about Waterbury restaurants.
||| Opening Reception |||
January 10, 2025, 6-8pm
Featuring music by St. Silva!
Exhibition Dates
January 10 – March 15, 2025
Location
Phoenix Gallery 5 Stowe Street, Waterbury VT
Gallery Hours
Tue-Fri & Sun, 12-6pm
Contact
(802) 355-5440
Joseph@thephoenixvt.com
Artist Statement
The Generative Tree
Jenn Karson
January 2025
This work investigates the complex interplay between technological advancement and biological systems, specifically examining the symbiotic potential between our machines and Earth’s “soft bodies” – humans, plants, and animals. Through the lens of Phytomechatronics, a speculative framework that reimagines technological progress as nurturing rather than extractive, I explore our current moment of AI fetishization against the backdrop of climate crisis.
This investigation draws parallels between historical and contemporary attempts to harness and control nature. In the 1860s, E. Leopold Trouvelot’s failed experiment to breed a superior silkworm inadvertently introduced the invasive spongy moth (Lymantria dispar) to North America. Today, we witness similar patterns in our relationship with artificial intelligence – the pursuit of technological advancement often comes at the cost of enormous energy consumption and potential harm to people and biological systems.
Central to this work is my intimate relationship with a single oak tree—the Generative Tree—which took root approximately 160 years ago in Vermont – coinciding with Trouvelot’s silk moth experiments in Massachusetts. This tree, that died in 2023, became a focal point for exploring Psithurus – the ancient Greek concept of divine messages conveyed through rustling oak leaves. The tree’s foliage, damaged by spongy moth caterpillars in 2021 and 2022, revealed unexpected messages through patterns that evoke mythical creatures, continents, and familiar animals. These dialogues between human perception and botanical transformation illuminate our profound emotional bonds with trees, while revealing nature’s capacity to speak through its very wounds.
My art practice positions me as a naturalist operating across diverse territories: the politically charged realm of High-Performance Computing, the abstract landscapes of mathematical and multidimensional latent space, and the physical environment of my neighborhood during spongy moth outbreaks. Through visual documentation and material artifacts, I capture the intersection of these domains.
The work examines both creation and decay, drawing parallels between natural and artificial generative processes. Like mother moths who whose bodies die and disintegrate over their eggs, leaving behind both their destruction and the promise of new life, generative AI systems transform their training data – in this case, original datasets created by me and the Plant Machine Design group – into outputs that exist in an ambiguous space between ruination and creation. This tension raises questions about authenticity, transformation, and artistic intention.
Through this exploration, I propose a critical reassessment of our relationship with technology, suggesting that true innovation might lie not in domination and extraction, but in fostering symbiotic relationships between the digital and natural worlds. In an era of ecological crisis and rapid technological advancement, this work asks us to consider how we might develop technologies that enhance rather than diminish the vitality of Earth’s living systems.
Preliminary installation shots of The Generative Tree exhibition at the Phoenix. January 9, 2025, Waterbury, VT.
Thanks to everyone who turned out for the opening party! Friday, January 10, 2025, Waterbury, VT.