In its anniversary year of 2025, the World of Knowledge International Science Film Festival held its first art & science exhibition, expanding the principles and methods of popularizing science. Art & science, or scientific and technological art, is a dynamically developing direction in contemporary art, in which artistic research is combined with scientific practice and methodology. This direction is based on the collaboration of artists and scientists, combining creative approaches with scientific achievements. Art & science offers new ways of perceiving complex scientific concepts and has significant potential for popularizing science through artistic images.
Plantoverse 2.0 is an art project that explores plant optics and the perception of light by plants. It is based on the scientific hypothesis that epidermal cells in leaves can function as optical lenses, concentrating or scattering light depending on external conditions. This idea was first formulated by botanist Gottlieb Haberlandt in the early 20th century and has been confirmed by modern biological research.
Plantoverse combines art and science, transferring the optical properties of plant cells into digital space. The sculpture consists of modules resembling the structure of a plant body. Three cameras are built into the modules, allowing viewers to see the surrounding world through the optical system of plant cells. When interacting with the installation, the viewer sees themselves as if their image were passing through plant lenses. On the screens on the wall, we see a fragmented image with the structure of epidermal cells. An algorithm based on real scientific data transforms the video stream from the cameras in real time. The authors of the work conducted a series of biological experiments using a confocal microscope and calculated the optical properties of leaf epidermal cells. By interacting with the art project, viewers can not only learn about the research process, but also immerse themselves in the plant universe, many of whose mysteries remain unsolved.
The planet consists of layers — from geological formations to the atmosphere with its complex system of interactions. One of these layers — the biosphere — lies on the border between the living and non-living worlds, responsible for the delicate balance of life on Earth. The biosphere is formed by living organisms, among which plants play a key role in sustaining life. However, the plant world still remains in the shadows of human perception — the phenomenon of plant blindness shows that people perceive plants as background rather than active participants in the ecosystem. The lack of attention to plants and their role in ecosystems leads to a rapid decline in species populations and loss of plant biodiversity, triggering a chain reaction that affects many other species, from pollinators to humans. Plantoverse invites viewers to transcend these limitations and look at themselves and the world around them through the lens of plants in order to rethink the boundaries of perception and interaction with nature. The main goal is to draw attention to plants as full-fledged participants in the ecosystem of planet Earth.
The location of the project in the Moscow Planetarium became symbolic not only in terms of the connection between the universe and the planet's ecosystem, but also from the perspective of technological tools that unite science and art. The concept of optics becomes the point of intersection between the festival, the art project, and the planetarium space. In the planetarium, optics are used to study space, simulate the movement of celestial bodies, and create the effect of immersion in the starry sky. In Plantoverse, optics become a way of perceiving reality from the perspective of a plant organism — the epidermal cells of a leaf act as lenses, refracting light and allowing the plant to “read” information about its environment. The movie camera, as a tool for recording and interpreting reality through optical lenses, creates another link in the perception of the world. The exhibition continued the festival's concept and desire to popularize scientific phenomena and offered a new way of studying space.intelligence.
With the support of the Art & Science Center of ITMO University, as well as specialists from the Laboratory of Hybrid Nanostructures for Biomedicine of the International Scientific and Educational Center for Physics of Nanostructures at ITMO University, Senior Researcher Viktor Zakharov and Research Engineer Maxim Rider.
Festival team
Yuliana Slashcheva, chair of the organizing committee
Yulia Davydova, general producer of the festival
Maria Bezenkova, program director
Competition program jury:
Galina Prozhiko, Balak Gosh, Oleg Voloshin, Sveta Strahinich
