DSS Pollination Unit

Pollination Unit is a participatory installation that transforms pollination into a speculative form of ecological labor.

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Set within the world of The Department of Species Services, the work imagines a near future in which AI monitors ecological instability and assigns humans to support fragile ecosystems. In this scenario, the sudden decline of the yellow-faced bumblebee disrupts the seasonal pollination of California poppies. In response, DSS activates an emergency role: Seasonal Human Pollination Technician.

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Visitors are invited to wear the DSS Pollination Glove and perform hand-pollination on California poppy flowers. The gesture is simple but precise: a repeated act of touch, transfer, and attention. As participants move, the glove responds with haptic feedback and movement-triggered sound, turning pollination into a sensory interface between human body, artificial system, and plant life.

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A dual-screen projection juxtaposes two temporalities: the speculative future of human pollination and the present reality of bee pollination. Through co-imagining with generative AI agents, video-to-video motion matching, and spatial audio synthesis, these parallel worlds resonate visually and sonically. This dialogue not only questions the substitution of natural processes by artificial systems, but also reflects on the broader entanglement of technology, ecology, and affective labor.

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Interaction

Within the installation, this speculative scenario becomes a lived procedure. Participants are invited to undergo assessment, assume a role, and perform pollination through direct interaction with California poppy flowers. The glove integrates a vibrotactile transducer that produces haptic feedback in response to movement, while simultaneously triggering spatialized sound. Pollination becomes both a functional task and a sensory exchange, an embodied interface between human, machine, and plant.

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Rather than presenting AI as a distant tool, the installation imagines it as an institutional system that identifies ecological gaps and reallocates human labor where other species can no longer sustain their roles. Through direct interaction, audiences experience ecological responsibility not as an abstract concept, but as a task performed through the body.

Pollination Unit asks: when the labor of other species disappears, who is asked to replace it?

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Credits

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Concept & Artistic Direction
Shihan Zhang

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Choreography & Performance
Abigail Hinson

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Interactive Sound Design
Han Zhang

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Performance Storyboard
Shihan Zhang

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AI Video Visuals
Mingyong Cheng

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AI Voice narrative:

Mingyong Cheng

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Pollination Glove Design
Ziwei Liu, Shihan Zhang

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Installation & Set Design
Shihan Zhang

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Technical Direction
Mingyong Cheng / Han Zhang

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Videophotographer

Ziteng Wang

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Curators

Wade Wallerstei

Jeff Hawkins

Chris Giang

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Production & Operational Staff

Andre Duque

Steve Piasecki

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Produced by
Gray Area Art & Technology

/local Memory

alter+

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