Garden of Rules

by Youngju Kim

Garden of Rules

HYBRID BY NATURE: Human.Machine.Interaction

Oct – Dec. 2021.

Goethe Institut Online Exhibition

“The Garden of Rules” is a simulation game in which human-participants interact with AI agents in a commercial building filled with abandoned plants during the pandemic lockdown. Plants that are packed and delivered in boxes now remain scattered around the building. Participants must wander around and together with AI, figure out what plants need. Behavioral verbs chosen by the participants are transmitted to the plants in different ways. AI moves the plants from place to place according to their needs. While humans communicate with AI through visible and epidermal interfaces, machines formulate relationships with the plants through deep control although unseen like a black box.

“The Garden of Rules” will not expand. Participants try to maintain the artificially created garden in the absence of humans. They choose action verbs like everyday gestures, without knowing exactly what each plant needs. AI identifies the state of each plant in real-time and moves them around on behalf of humans. Human-participants watch plants move around in the space where they cannot be physically present. Through interaction with AI, one will understand each action can cause multiple outcomes. “The Garden of Rules” intentionally borrows the characteristics of human-machine interactions that the platform does not reveal. It pushes forward the fixed principle of human-machine interaction and creates a critical understanding of the coexistence of humans, machines, and nature.