The movement responsive sound installation electro|botanic speculates upon the perception of plants. Through sonification, it makes their fields of perception experienceable for humans and possible for visitors to interact with.

By measuring electromagnetic fields in the exhibition space – using plants as bio- antennas – the installation detects human presence. The naturally occurring electromagnetic radiation of the human body affects the electromagnetic field of the space. These dynamic changes in electromagnetic activity, are sonified by using DIY- Technology.

Meaning: A visitor getting in contact with the installation, can explore the artwork like a movement controlled room instrument. By entering this performative state, the visitor is diving into an exchange with the sonified plant – a shift of hierarchies is taking place. The plant, often seen as an object: A senseless thing, without agency or ‘voice’ – is now portrayed as a sentient being: A being able to experience its surroundings, able to react, able to communicate.

Scientifically we know that plants live processes very close to the human memory, decision-making and learning processes. But as their reactions to us, or their environment are often happening on a different time scale than human experience, we often don’t recognise their behaviour.

In recent studies it has been suggested that plants are able to experience electromagnetic fields and react to them. This capability is called: Electrotropism.



The possibility, that plants can experience human presence – by being electrosensitive – is an artistic interpretation of the scientific evidence. It is a form Science Fiction. A speculation upon a scientific discovery, that would create a shift in human perception, and conception of reality.

Positioning itself at the boarders of science and art, the work presents plants as sentient beings. To be a sentient being means to be able to perceive your surroundings. Being labeled ‘sentient’ is often the boarder between being seen as alive, or dead, being or object, and being treated as such.

Accepting plants as active, living, sentient beings is deeply intertwined with the human relation to the environment. It is a fundamental step in questioning established worldviews of the Anthropocene, that puts wo*mankind above other non-human beings.

The Project was shown in the Ars Electronica (September 2023) Campus Exhibition: „Non-Machines“ in Linz, Austria; the Bauhaus University Conference „Non-Machines: Playground of Perspectives“ and the group exhibition „Pflanzenblindheit“ (Plant Blindness), both in Weimar, Germany (July 2023). A prototype was exhibited at Bauhaus University Summaery 2022 under the name „Awareness and Movement in a Phonetic Garden“ (find a video demonstration below).

electro|botanic was kindly funded by the Bauhaus University Kreativfonds.