Being hyphaenated (Ser hifanizado) is an artwork-as-ecosystem that performs complex interactions between the planet’s living beings. Hyphae references the mycelial filaments that fungi use to communicate. The sculpture comprises an array of living beings, each host to microorganisms which are connected to each other through respiration and are mediated by sensing technology.

A vessel of water generates humidity in response to the CO₂ produced by fungi and viewers, triggering changes in bioelectric signaling within each cocoon. Embedded lights pulse in response to these changes, while an artificial intelligence studies the bioelectric signals from each organism and looks for emergent behavior patterns. The project was funded by Getty PST and incorporates research from the UCI Treseder lab, which studies fungi’s role in ecosystems and global change, and asks: If technology was modeled on the complexity of nature, might we begin to think of ourselves as interacting with a community of organisms?

bio-digital system

The bio-digital system requires art with science, including field and laboratory work alongside drawing, coding and modeling. Studying each specimen up-close reveals the vital pulse of each, presenting a perception of the world from that being’s perspective. This pulse is recoded into light, pulsing according to the distinct cadence of each  organism. The patterns of pulses embody a system of communication and exchange, typically imperceptible to the human senses, but responsive to an array of complex interactions that extend from the community of organisms to shifts in environment. The patterns represent a hyphaenated existence, reflecting the artists’ understanding that life on Earth is never singular but is instead predicated on a web of relationships among many different species.

This work invites people to imagine how we are part of this broad intelligence system. If we can make the leap to having more inputs into the digital and machine systems that we create so that they take into account not just human concerns but this web of interactions, that would be transformational for AI.

Web of Life and AI

The artwork orients AI to an array of living beings, which are working and communicating with each other, because the world is complex, and our technology is complex, and yet our technologies have yet to reflect this whole web of life.

Acknowledgements

Being hyphaenated (Ser hifanizado) was made possible with support from UC Irvine Beall Center for Art + Technology and Getty, with curatorial direction by David Familian and additional support from CSUSM, UNICAMP and FAPESP (2023/10966-1). The artwork premiered in Future Tense: Art, Complexity, and Uncertainty at the Beall Center (2024-2025). The Treseder Lab at UC Irvine supported the project materially and through research contributions by Dr. Kathleen Treseder, Dr. Melanie Hacopian and PhD candidate Eduardo Misael Choreno Parra. Oliver George-Brown supported the installation and technical setup. The artwork is in the collection of the Treseder Lab, which continues to collaborate with Cesar & Lois.