Through a metaphorical "illumination" the project merges digital, vegetal and cosmological networks.

Cultivating resources that rely on a hybridization of techne from both the human and nonhuman.

Algorithm for the Moon is  a two part project - the creation of a program/system that generates artificial moonlight and the insertion of this “component” into an installation that consists of the moonflower vine. The work will focus conceptually on acts of excess that continue in spite of the current ecological crisis, ideologies that surround scientific progress through the manipulation and subordination of living organisms such as plants, and the loss of certain types of knowledge, specifically in this work, the agrarian.
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I. The development of an application that is customized to the geographical location. The application translates the amount of moonlight (using the apparent magnitude m formula) that could be captured at that location on that particular night into a “moon light glow” that would be displayed on the idle computer screen or monitor. The application would use and visualize data that measure the cycles of the moon in various cities around the world, combined with the rising/setting of the sun, day of the year and a collection of light readings based on atmosphere conditions. The variables combined, would create a program to display a luminous glowing screen that depicts the “local” moon conditions when the application is run - a spectrum that would range from new-moon black to a slightly brighter full moon glow to even a special eclipse quick flicker screen.
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II. Moonflowers (Ipomoea alba) open only at night, in order to be pollinated by nocturnal moths. Moonlight is a reflection of the sun, this is an attempt to create a moonlit environment for the flowers that are grown indoors - however, as the solar cycle is slightly different each day, a program is required to adjust the amount of direct sun and reflected light the plants receive to mirror the growing season with both full spectrum light and moonlight. (The vines will be pollinated by hand and by the moths who venture through the open window into the studio)
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The second part of the project is a networked installation that will incorporate the moonlight algorithm developed, a palette of moonlight - see samples below. The large white flowers of this vine will act as a screen to project activities-performances from an underground garden on the surface of the moon. I will be working in this garden for a number of extended periods researching possibilities for growing and harvesting different foods while contemplating forms of extraterrestrial citizenship...

below: shades of moonlit skies taken from photographs