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BY SEMANTICA (JEMMA FOSTER AND CAMILLA FRENCH), JUAN CORTÉS
Commissioned by Somerset House for the exhibition: SOIL: The World Beneath Our Feet, As Above, So Below (2024) is an interactive installation that uses computational biology and agent-based modelling to simulate biochemical, metabolic and planetary processes and transform them into sound.
The floor projections simulate a living soil ecosystem, showing interactions between organisms, nutrients and seeds. Live agroindustrial market data displays crop demand, whilst touch-sensitive ceramic seeds help restore balance to the projected ecosystem by altering the sound and light in the space. This reveals how key agents in soil formation are affected by external forces like the stock market—reflecting how speculative financial activities, upon which organic life ultimately depends, influence and distort the biological cycles of our world.
Visitor presence and interaction contributes to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate.
This interplay reveals how the speculative logic of financial markets and industrial griculture impacts deeply on our soil, challenging our understanding of human and more-than-human relationships in the age of digital capitalism. This installation proposes a critical reflection on the usage of computational systems and contemporary techno-colonial perspectives to understand these entanglements.
Artist Statement:
As Above, So Below continues our research into the impact of industrial agriculture and colonial technologies on soil health in the Global South. Centred on Colombia, our collaboration stems from a shared concern about the increasing threat to biodiversity and the intersection of technology, ecology, and economics. Through bioacoustics and data visualisation, we illuminate complex systems and hidden communication pathways between soil organisms and market forces, encouraging reconsideration of human actions on local and global scales. By inviting participants to interact with the installation, we hope to evoke a sense of connection and stewardship for the microcosmos beneath our feet.
As you enter the space you’ll see projected onto the floor a visualisation of soil microbiome, tiny little creatures moving around and multiplying. You’ll smell the earth, a scent custom made by us for the exhibition. The ambient sound feels almost like static electricity, as if you could hear every little movement happening in the soil around you. Straight ahead of you, hanging from the ceiling are two LED strips showing real time information of agritech companies on the stock market. Below the LED strips and to your left and right are three ceramic seeds on plinths, glowing in the darkness. These seeds are inviting you to touch them. As you get closer you can see the light shining out of small holes in the seeds and as you touch them, the light glows brighter and the sound around you increases, as the microbiome on the floor also begin to reproduce more. There is a sense of germination, of life being created, you have made the soil healthier through your touch.
We started by having several conversations about how we could expand our previous research, which through sound, looked at the detrimental effects of Genetically modified crops on soil in Colombia. This time we wanted to do more of a deep dive into the soil itself, thinking about how we could visualise what was going on in the soil when things above ground represented threats like pesticides killing off biodiversity for example. This is how the idea of the soil algorithm came about, Juan created a unique algorithm based on real data of soil microbiome, and then linked the data of the stock market so that this would affect the speed of the processes taking place in the soil. This took a lot of programming and designing and fine tuning the animations of the different bacteria. The idea for the seeds came about by imagining how insects are drawn to light, and how the audience could be drawn to these glowing seeds as if they were also part of the microbiome. We worked with ceramicists in Colombia to create these seeds out of clay, basing our designs on microscopic images of seeds. It was quite a lengthy process waiting for the clay to dry and seeing how the different colour effects would turn out after firing them, but we were really keen to use a natural material like clay. Then we had to do tests with the electronics, using the seeds as antennas that could be activated through touch and inserting a number of cables and lights into the seeds. We wanted to use the vertical LED strips to deepen this idea of how the world above ground affects the world below ground. This abstract information of the stock market, constantly in flux mirrors the ever changing world of the microbiome below. The sound is a mix of several recordings we have taken from the soil in an area called los llanos, Colombia, which has been ravaged by GM crops. These recordings have been paired with a granular synthetic effect to represent the movement of the soil microbiome. And this was set to Schuman Resonance of Earth to support organic processes.
The exhibition is multisensory in that it allows the audience to smell the soil, see and hear the microbiome and touch and interact with the ceramic seeds. It was important for us to create a world in which the audience could feel really embedded in the soil. The first thing to hit people as they enter will be the smell of wet earth, soil in all its glory. Then the visuals and sounds of the microbiome will engulf them as they walk further into the space. The seeds are meant to be touched and the more people that do touch them, the more the sound and visuals around them will change as they have been programmed to do this. The animations being projected onto the floor will begin to speed up as the microbiome reproduce, the sound will compliment this also. We wanted this idea of becoming part of the biodiversity in the soil to really stick with people. We hope that they will feel like guardians of the seeds and that this will invoke a call to action to also become guardians of soil. We knew that children would be part of the audience and that their relationship to soil and nature is so important for our future, so these multisensory elements are a way to invite them in more, to make soil more fun despite the more serious and abstract idea of how markets affect soil health.
Seeds contain within them the genetic information for all future expressions of a plant. They are emblems of the tension between life and death and beacons for the future.
Seeds can lie dormant for years, even millenia, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and industrial agriculture is limiting these conditions through intensive chemical processes and industry practices that damage the health of the soil.
In a report published in 2022 by the United Nations it was estimated that 90% of soils worldwide will be moderately to severely degraded by 2050 if we continue on our current trajectory. Global Seed vaults preserve the genetic heritage of plants, but these will be redundant in a future without soil.
In As Above, So Below, we wanted to demonstrate the complex and fragile relationship between the seeds and their environment and the impact of external forces - planetary and political, speculative and synthetic, human and non-human - but also look towards a positive future and demonstrate the potential for reparations between human and more-than-human worlds through biodiversity, community and mutual exchange.
The ceramic seeds contain internal antennas that respond to the audience touch through light and sound and we hope that by inviting the audience to engage directly with the seeds and contribute to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate will evoke a sense of connection and stewardship.
Agro-industrial growth is driven by market speculation and biased models that are designed for profit, and short term gain is often prioritised over long term security when it comes to soil health. Demand places excess strain on the soil and its inhabitants, depleting its resources and innate ability to repair and restore itself. In applying live market data to our soil simulation, we wanted to demonstrate the direct impact of economic systems on living organisms and how these above ground systems impact the growth of the inhabitants below, witnessed in the behaviour of the microorganisms as they respond to fluctuations in nutrient exchange, bacterial growth and fungal relationships.
For many people, speculative financial markets and economic systems remain at a distance, cloaked in abstraction. Equally, many people exist without much consideration for what lies beneath their feet, invisible from the surface.
Above, So Below demonstrates the real impact of these systems on the soil and in doing so, questions the choices that we make as individuals and as a society, and how they directly impact the more-than-human world.
Through bringing awareness to these entanglements, we are encouraged to question our connection with more-than-human worlds and how we might engage, communicate and support them. Without listening, there is no conversation and without conversation there is no partnership. We need to include voices beyond our own and shift our connection to the natural world from one of resource to relationship.
One of the principle barriers to human and non-human relationships is the lack of coherence we have when we engage with the more-than-human world. We often take our personal chaos into these spaces and lack true presence as we are distracted by our internal monologues. As Above, So Below, aims to bring awareness to the intimate entanglements between human and more-than human worlds and through immersion and interaction, encourage presence and connection.
We're currently developing a web app called Geomantra, which is a sonic meditation device designed to cultivate a state of cohesion and resonance that supports the practice of deep listening with the soil and its inhabitants.
The expansion of agro-industrial technologies and new forms of colonialism represented by GM monoculture crops, genetic extractivism, seed privatisation, industrial fertilisers and agricultural chemicals, are all disruptors to the biochemical language of the soil and the ability for microbes, fungi, plants, and animals to communicate, relate, respond, and adapt.
When these systems are healthy, they are in a state of harmonious resonance - catabolic and anabolic processes are relatively balanced - and these organisms are able to communicate effectively. When they are unhealthy, they respond chaotically, creating dissonance, greater entropy and a breakdown of these communication pathways.
We wanted to convey this dynamic through the soundscape for the installation, which uses biodata and field recordings of plants and subterranean recordings of the soil, with organic frequencies that support living systems such as the Schumann resonance of Earth, and granular synthesis for the microorganisms in the soil simulation. The audience will be able to sense fluctuations in the harmony and disharmony of the environment through sound as well as the visuals of the simulation.
As Above, So Below underscores how speculative financial phenomena and organic processes in the soil share a surprising yet consequential bond. We feed live market data into an adapted CENTURY model—commonly used to forecast land-use scenarios and nutrient flows—to illustrate how investing decisions and profit-driven logic can reshape microbial balances, pH levels, and protozoan activity beneath our feet. This project challenges the myth of a ‘neutral’ simulation: our code and data structures, even within scientific models, inevitably carry cultural and economic biases. By weaving the market’s fluctuations into a soil-focused framework, we expose how computational tools, far from being apolitical, can reinforce or subvert existing power structures—leading us to ask who truly benefits when nature’s complexity is reduced to an algorithmic forecast.
How does As Above, So Below represent the processes going on in the soil?
Rather than offering a simple visual metaphor, we rely on an algorithm that portrays the changing conditions of soil ecology—its microbial ties, nutrient transfers, and shifts in pH. We started with CENTURY’s core methods for modelling organic matter and decomposer cycles, then added extra components for protozoa behavior and fungal networks. Visitors stand over a soil universe displayed at their feet, where each surge of financial data triggers fresh disturbances: chemical waves, changes in microbial counts, or sudden variations in soil acidity. By weaving these elements together, As Above, So Below shows soil not as a static layer of dirt, but as a responsive system shaped by economic forces—yet still capable of reorganising itself through natural resilience and mindful human intervention.
Our soil model is partly governed by data-driven code—such as real-time updates that adjust fungal growth or bacterial decline. Yet, it also incorporates emergent behaviours: organic networks respond chaotically under stress or sudden input. In short, we’ve programmed certain rules (e.g., thresholds for chemical saturation or microbial resilience), but the resulting ‘dance’ of organisms remains unpredictable. Viewers’ interactions and shifting external inputs determine whether the system moves towards renewal or further degradation, reminding us that living ecologies are never fully under our control.
We often imagine our impact on the land as direct and visible—using tractors, chemicals, or seeds. Yet towering above those actions are speculative financial markets, whose trades and sudden shifts can ripple through entire ecosystems. By feeding market data into a soil simulation, As Above, So Below shows how economic choices—far removed from the farm—can change microbial balance, pH levels, and biodiversity in ways we don’t usually see.
To grasp this hidden chain of cause and effect, we need imaginative narratives—like interactive art or speculative fiction—that give shape to how capital flows become chemical imbalances in the soil. These creative spaces shine a light on the fact that high finance isn’t some distant, abstract force. Instead, it weaves through fungal threads and microbial loops, altering the living Earth in complex, often invisible ways.
Commissioned by Somerset House for the exhibition: SOIL: The World Beneath Our Feet, As Above, So Below (2024) is an interactive installation that uses computational biology and agent-based modelling to simulate biochemical, metabolic and planetary processes and transform them into sound.
The floor projections simulate a living soil ecosystem, showing interactions between organisms, nutrients and seeds. Live agroindustrial market data displays crop demand, whilst touch-sensitive ceramic seeds help restore balance to the projected ecosystem by altering the sound and light in the space. This reveals how key agents in soil formation are affected by external forces like the stock market—reflecting how speculative financial activities, upon which organic life ultimately depends, influence and distort the biological cycles of our world.
Visitor presence and interaction contributes to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate.
This interplay reveals how the speculative logic of financial markets and industrial griculture impacts deeply on our soil, challenging our understanding of human and more-than-human relationships in the age of digital capitalism. This installation proposes a critical reflection on the usage of computational systems and contemporary techno-colonial perspectives to understand these entanglements.
Artist Statement:
As Above, So Below continues our research into the impact of industrial agriculture and colonial technologies on soil health in the Global South. Centred on Colombia, our collaboration stems from a shared concern about the increasing threat to biodiversity and the intersection of technology, ecology, and economics. Through bioacoustics and data visualisation, we illuminate complex systems and hidden communication pathways between soil organisms and market forces, encouraging reconsideration of human actions on local and global scales. By inviting participants to interact with the installation, we hope to evoke a sense of connection and stewardship for the microcosmos beneath our feet.
As you enter the space you’ll see projected onto the floor a visualisation of soil microbiome, tiny little creatures moving around and multiplying. You’ll smell the earth, a scent custom made by us for the exhibition. The ambient sound feels almost like static electricity, as if you could hear every little movement happening in the soil around you. Straight ahead of you, hanging from the ceiling are two LED strips showing real time information of agritech companies on the stock market. Below the LED strips and to your left and right are three ceramic seeds on plinths, glowing in the darkness. These seeds are inviting you to touch them. As you get closer you can see the light shining out of small holes in the seeds and as you touch them, the light glows brighter and the sound around you increases, as the microbiome on the floor also begin to reproduce more. There is a sense of germination, of life being created, you have made the soil healthier through your touch.
We started by having several conversations about how we could expand our previous research, which through sound, looked at the detrimental effects of Genetically modified crops on soil in Colombia. This time we wanted to do more of a deep dive into the soil itself, thinking about how we could visualise what was going on in the soil when things above ground represented threats like pesticides killing off biodiversity for example. This is how the idea of the soil algorithm came about, Juan created a unique algorithm based on real data of soil microbiome, and then linked the data of the stock market so that this would affect the speed of the processes taking place in the soil. This took a lot of programming and designing and fine tuning the animations of the different bacteria. The idea for the seeds came about by imagining how insects are drawn to light, and how the audience could be drawn to these glowing seeds as if they were also part of the microbiome. We worked with ceramicists in Colombia to create these seeds out of clay, basing our designs on microscopic images of seeds. It was quite a lengthy process waiting for the clay to dry and seeing how the different colour effects would turn out after firing them, but we were really keen to use a natural material like clay. Then we had to do tests with the electronics, using the seeds as antennas that could be activated through touch and inserting a number of cables and lights into the seeds. We wanted to use the vertical LED strips to deepen this idea of how the world above ground affects the world below ground. This abstract information of the stock market, constantly in flux mirrors the ever changing world of the microbiome below. The sound is a mix of several recordings we have taken from the soil in an area called los llanos, Colombia, which has been ravaged by GM crops. These recordings have been paired with a granular synthetic effect to represent the movement of the soil microbiome. And this was set to Schuman Resonance of Earth to support organic processes.
The exhibition is multisensory in that it allows the audience to smell the soil, see and hear the microbiome and touch and interact with the ceramic seeds. It was important for us to create a world in which the audience could feel really embedded in the soil. The first thing to hit people as they enter will be the smell of wet earth, soil in all its glory. Then the visuals and sounds of the microbiome will engulf them as they walk further into the space. The seeds are meant to be touched and the more people that do touch them, the more the sound and visuals around them will change as they have been programmed to do this. The animations being projected onto the floor will begin to speed up as the microbiome reproduce, the sound will compliment this also. We wanted this idea of becoming part of the biodiversity in the soil to really stick with people. We hope that they will feel like guardians of the seeds and that this will invoke a call to action to also become guardians of soil. We knew that children would be part of the audience and that their relationship to soil and nature is so important for our future, so these multisensory elements are a way to invite them in more, to make soil more fun despite the more serious and abstract idea of how markets affect soil health.
Seeds contain within them the genetic information for all future expressions of a plant. They are emblems of the tension between life and death and beacons for the future.
Seeds can lie dormant for years, even millenia, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and industrial agriculture is limiting these conditions through intensive chemical processes and industry practices that damage the health of the soil.
In a report published in 2022 by the United Nations it was estimated that 90% of soils worldwide will be moderately to severely degraded by 2050 if we continue on our current trajectory. Global Seed vaults preserve the genetic heritage of plants, but these will be redundant in a future without soil.
In As Above, So Below, we wanted to demonstrate the complex and fragile relationship between the seeds and their environment and the impact of external forces - planetary and political, speculative and synthetic, human and non-human - but also look towards a positive future and demonstrate the potential for reparations between human and more-than-human worlds through biodiversity, community and mutual exchange.
The ceramic seeds contain internal antennas that respond to the audience touch through light and sound and we hope that by inviting the audience to engage directly with the seeds and contribute to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate will evoke a sense of connection and stewardship.
Agro-industrial growth is driven by market speculation and biased models that are designed for profit, and short term gain is often prioritised over long term security when it comes to soil health. Demand places excess strain on the soil and its inhabitants, depleting its resources and innate ability to repair and restore itself. In applying live market data to our soil simulation, we wanted to demonstrate the direct impact of economic systems on living organisms and how these above ground systems impact the growth of the inhabitants below, witnessed in the behaviour of the microorganisms as they respond to fluctuations in nutrient exchange, bacterial growth and fungal relationships.
For many people, speculative financial markets and economic systems remain at a distance, cloaked in abstraction. Equally, many people exist without much consideration for what lies beneath their feet, invisible from the surface.
Above, So Below demonstrates the real impact of these systems on the soil and in doing so, questions the choices that we make as individuals and as a society, and how they directly impact the more-than-human world.
Through bringing awareness to these entanglements, we are encouraged to question our connection with more-than-human worlds and how we might engage, communicate and support them. Without listening, there is no conversation and without conversation there is no partnership. We need to include voices beyond our own and shift our connection to the natural world from one of resource to relationship.
One of the principle barriers to human and non-human relationships is the lack of coherence we have when we engage with the more-than-human world. We often take our personal chaos into these spaces and lack true presence as we are distracted by our internal monologues. As Above, So Below, aims to bring awareness to the intimate entanglements between human and more-than human worlds and through immersion and interaction, encourage presence and connection.
We're currently developing a web app called Geomantra, which is a sonic meditation device designed to cultivate a state of cohesion and resonance that supports the practice of deep listening with the soil and its inhabitants.
The expansion of agro-industrial technologies and new forms of colonialism represented by GM monoculture crops, genetic extractivism, seed privatisation, industrial fertilisers and agricultural chemicals, are all disruptors to the biochemical language of the soil and the ability for microbes, fungi, plants, and animals to communicate, relate, respond, and adapt.
When these systems are healthy, they are in a state of harmonious resonance - catabolic and anabolic processes are relatively balanced - and these organisms are able to communicate effectively. When they are unhealthy, they respond chaotically, creating dissonance, greater entropy and a breakdown of these communication pathways.
We wanted to convey this dynamic through the soundscape for the installation, which uses biodata and field recordings of plants and subterranean recordings of the soil, with organic frequencies that support living systems such as the Schumann resonance of Earth, and granular synthesis for the microorganisms in the soil simulation. The audience will be able to sense fluctuations in the harmony and disharmony of the environment through sound as well as the visuals of the simulation.
As Above, So Below underscores how speculative financial phenomena and organic processes in the soil share a surprising yet consequential bond. We feed live market data into an adapted CENTURY model—commonly used to forecast land-use scenarios and nutrient flows—to illustrate how investing decisions and profit-driven logic can reshape microbial balances, pH levels, and protozoan activity beneath our feet. This project challenges the myth of a ‘neutral’ simulation: our code and data structures, even within scientific models, inevitably carry cultural and economic biases. By weaving the market’s fluctuations into a soil-focused framework, we expose how computational tools, far from being apolitical, can reinforce or subvert existing power structures—leading us to ask who truly benefits when nature’s complexity is reduced to an algorithmic forecast.
How does As Above, So Below represent the processes going on in the soil?
Rather than offering a simple visual metaphor, we rely on an algorithm that portrays the changing conditions of soil ecology—its microbial ties, nutrient transfers, and shifts in pH. We started with CENTURY’s core methods for modelling organic matter and decomposer cycles, then added extra components for protozoa behavior and fungal networks. Visitors stand over a soil universe displayed at their feet, where each surge of financial data triggers fresh disturbances: chemical waves, changes in microbial counts, or sudden variations in soil acidity. By weaving these elements together, As Above, So Below shows soil not as a static layer of dirt, but as a responsive system shaped by economic forces—yet still capable of reorganising itself through natural resilience and mindful human intervention.
Our soil model is partly governed by data-driven code—such as real-time updates that adjust fungal growth or bacterial decline. Yet, it also incorporates emergent behaviours: organic networks respond chaotically under stress or sudden input. In short, we’ve programmed certain rules (e.g., thresholds for chemical saturation or microbial resilience), but the resulting ‘dance’ of organisms remains unpredictable. Viewers’ interactions and shifting external inputs determine whether the system moves towards renewal or further degradation, reminding us that living ecologies are never fully under our control.
We often imagine our impact on the land as direct and visible—using tractors, chemicals, or seeds. Yet towering above those actions are speculative financial markets, whose trades and sudden shifts can ripple through entire ecosystems. By feeding market data into a soil simulation, As Above, So Below shows how economic choices—far removed from the farm—can change microbial balance, pH levels, and biodiversity in ways we don’t usually see.
To grasp this hidden chain of cause and effect, we need imaginative narratives—like interactive art or speculative fiction—that give shape to how capital flows become chemical imbalances in the soil. These creative spaces shine a light on the fact that high finance isn’t some distant, abstract force. Instead, it weaves through fungal threads and microbial loops, altering the living Earth in complex, often invisible ways.
Semantica is artist duo Jemma Foster and Camilla French, whose work explores fragile ecologies and interspecies communication through emerging technologies.Their practice incorporates biodata, sound, film, generative art and sculptural works. Collaborating with engineers, biologists and musicians to examine ways of sensing and co-creating with more-than-human worlds, they create large-scale interactive installations. They have produced projects about human and plant mythology, planetary processes, the soil microbiome, industrial agriculture and altered states of consciousness.
Juan Cortés is a Colombian electronic artist. His works take on multiple forms such as installation works, recordings, and concert pieces. Cortés is interested in investigative and interdisciplinary processes and the connections between art, science and pedagogical processes.
BY SEMANTICA (JEMMA FOSTER AND CAMILLA FRENCH), JUAN CORTÉS
Commissioned by Somerset House for the exhibition: SOIL: The World Beneath Our Feet, As Above, So Below (2024) is an interactive installation that uses computational biology and agent-based modelling to simulate biochemical, metabolic and planetary processes and transform them into sound.
The floor projections simulate a living soil ecosystem, showing interactions between organisms, nutrients and seeds. Live agroindustrial market data displays crop demand, whilst touch-sensitive ceramic seeds help restore balance to the projected ecosystem by altering the sound and light in the space. This reveals how key agents in soil formation are affected by external forces like the stock market—reflecting how speculative financial activities, upon which organic life ultimately depends, influence and distort the biological cycles of our world.
Visitor presence and interaction contributes to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate.
This interplay reveals how the speculative logic of financial markets and industrial griculture impacts deeply on our soil, challenging our understanding of human and more-than-human relationships in the age of digital capitalism. This installation proposes a critical reflection on the usage of computational systems and contemporary techno-colonial perspectives to understand these entanglements.
Artist Statement:
As Above, So Below continues our research into the impact of industrial agriculture and colonial technologies on soil health in the Global South. Centred on Colombia, our collaboration stems from a shared concern about the increasing threat to biodiversity and the intersection of technology, ecology, and economics. Through bioacoustics and data visualisation, we illuminate complex systems and hidden communication pathways between soil organisms and market forces, encouraging reconsideration of human actions on local and global scales. By inviting participants to interact with the installation, we hope to evoke a sense of connection and stewardship for the microcosmos beneath our feet.
As you enter the space you’ll see projected onto the floor a visualisation of soil microbiome, tiny little creatures moving around and multiplying. You’ll smell the earth, a scent custom made by us for the exhibition. The ambient sound feels almost like static electricity, as if you could hear every little movement happening in the soil around you. Straight ahead of you, hanging from the ceiling are two LED strips showing real time information of agritech companies on the stock market. Below the LED strips and to your left and right are three ceramic seeds on plinths, glowing in the darkness. These seeds are inviting you to touch them. As you get closer you can see the light shining out of small holes in the seeds and as you touch them, the light glows brighter and the sound around you increases, as the microbiome on the floor also begin to reproduce more. There is a sense of germination, of life being created, you have made the soil healthier through your touch.
We started by having several conversations about how we could expand our previous research, which through sound, looked at the detrimental effects of Genetically modified crops on soil in Colombia. This time we wanted to do more of a deep dive into the soil itself, thinking about how we could visualise what was going on in the soil when things above ground represented threats like pesticides killing off biodiversity for example. This is how the idea of the soil algorithm came about, Juan created a unique algorithm based on real data of soil microbiome, and then linked the data of the stock market so that this would affect the speed of the processes taking place in the soil. This took a lot of programming and designing and fine tuning the animations of the different bacteria. The idea for the seeds came about by imagining how insects are drawn to light, and how the audience could be drawn to these glowing seeds as if they were also part of the microbiome. We worked with ceramicists in Colombia to create these seeds out of clay, basing our designs on microscopic images of seeds. It was quite a lengthy process waiting for the clay to dry and seeing how the different colour effects would turn out after firing them, but we were really keen to use a natural material like clay. Then we had to do tests with the electronics, using the seeds as antennas that could be activated through touch and inserting a number of cables and lights into the seeds. We wanted to use the vertical LED strips to deepen this idea of how the world above ground affects the world below ground. This abstract information of the stock market, constantly in flux mirrors the ever changing world of the microbiome below. The sound is a mix of several recordings we have taken from the soil in an area called los llanos, Colombia, which has been ravaged by GM crops. These recordings have been paired with a granular synthetic effect to represent the movement of the soil microbiome. And this was set to Schuman Resonance of Earth to support organic processes.
The exhibition is multisensory in that it allows the audience to smell the soil, see and hear the microbiome and touch and interact with the ceramic seeds. It was important for us to create a world in which the audience could feel really embedded in the soil. The first thing to hit people as they enter will be the smell of wet earth, soil in all its glory. Then the visuals and sounds of the microbiome will engulf them as they walk further into the space. The seeds are meant to be touched and the more people that do touch them, the more the sound and visuals around them will change as they have been programmed to do this. The animations being projected onto the floor will begin to speed up as the microbiome reproduce, the sound will compliment this also. We wanted this idea of becoming part of the biodiversity in the soil to really stick with people. We hope that they will feel like guardians of the seeds and that this will invoke a call to action to also become guardians of soil. We knew that children would be part of the audience and that their relationship to soil and nature is so important for our future, so these multisensory elements are a way to invite them in more, to make soil more fun despite the more serious and abstract idea of how markets affect soil health.
Seeds contain within them the genetic information for all future expressions of a plant. They are emblems of the tension between life and death and beacons for the future.
Seeds can lie dormant for years, even millenia, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and industrial agriculture is limiting these conditions through intensive chemical processes and industry practices that damage the health of the soil.
In a report published in 2022 by the United Nations it was estimated that 90% of soils worldwide will be moderately to severely degraded by 2050 if we continue on our current trajectory. Global Seed vaults preserve the genetic heritage of plants, but these will be redundant in a future without soil.
In As Above, So Below, we wanted to demonstrate the complex and fragile relationship between the seeds and their environment and the impact of external forces - planetary and political, speculative and synthetic, human and non-human - but also look towards a positive future and demonstrate the potential for reparations between human and more-than-human worlds through biodiversity, community and mutual exchange.
The ceramic seeds contain internal antennas that respond to the audience touch through light and sound and we hope that by inviting the audience to engage directly with the seeds and contribute to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate will evoke a sense of connection and stewardship.
Agro-industrial growth is driven by market speculation and biased models that are designed for profit, and short term gain is often prioritised over long term security when it comes to soil health. Demand places excess strain on the soil and its inhabitants, depleting its resources and innate ability to repair and restore itself. In applying live market data to our soil simulation, we wanted to demonstrate the direct impact of economic systems on living organisms and how these above ground systems impact the growth of the inhabitants below, witnessed in the behaviour of the microorganisms as they respond to fluctuations in nutrient exchange, bacterial growth and fungal relationships.
For many people, speculative financial markets and economic systems remain at a distance, cloaked in abstraction. Equally, many people exist without much consideration for what lies beneath their feet, invisible from the surface.
Above, So Below demonstrates the real impact of these systems on the soil and in doing so, questions the choices that we make as individuals and as a society, and how they directly impact the more-than-human world.
Through bringing awareness to these entanglements, we are encouraged to question our connection with more-than-human worlds and how we might engage, communicate and support them. Without listening, there is no conversation and without conversation there is no partnership. We need to include voices beyond our own and shift our connection to the natural world from one of resource to relationship.
One of the principle barriers to human and non-human relationships is the lack of coherence we have when we engage with the more-than-human world. We often take our personal chaos into these spaces and lack true presence as we are distracted by our internal monologues. As Above, So Below, aims to bring awareness to the intimate entanglements between human and more-than human worlds and through immersion and interaction, encourage presence and connection.
We're currently developing a web app called Geomantra, which is a sonic meditation device designed to cultivate a state of cohesion and resonance that supports the practice of deep listening with the soil and its inhabitants.
The expansion of agro-industrial technologies and new forms of colonialism represented by GM monoculture crops, genetic extractivism, seed privatisation, industrial fertilisers and agricultural chemicals, are all disruptors to the biochemical language of the soil and the ability for microbes, fungi, plants, and animals to communicate, relate, respond, and adapt.
When these systems are healthy, they are in a state of harmonious resonance - catabolic and anabolic processes are relatively balanced - and these organisms are able to communicate effectively. When they are unhealthy, they respond chaotically, creating dissonance, greater entropy and a breakdown of these communication pathways.
We wanted to convey this dynamic through the soundscape for the installation, which uses biodata and field recordings of plants and subterranean recordings of the soil, with organic frequencies that support living systems such as the Schumann resonance of Earth, and granular synthesis for the microorganisms in the soil simulation. The audience will be able to sense fluctuations in the harmony and disharmony of the environment through sound as well as the visuals of the simulation.
As Above, So Below underscores how speculative financial phenomena and organic processes in the soil share a surprising yet consequential bond. We feed live market data into an adapted CENTURY model—commonly used to forecast land-use scenarios and nutrient flows—to illustrate how investing decisions and profit-driven logic can reshape microbial balances, pH levels, and protozoan activity beneath our feet. This project challenges the myth of a ‘neutral’ simulation: our code and data structures, even within scientific models, inevitably carry cultural and economic biases. By weaving the market’s fluctuations into a soil-focused framework, we expose how computational tools, far from being apolitical, can reinforce or subvert existing power structures—leading us to ask who truly benefits when nature’s complexity is reduced to an algorithmic forecast.
How does As Above, So Below represent the processes going on in the soil?
Rather than offering a simple visual metaphor, we rely on an algorithm that portrays the changing conditions of soil ecology—its microbial ties, nutrient transfers, and shifts in pH. We started with CENTURY’s core methods for modelling organic matter and decomposer cycles, then added extra components for protozoa behavior and fungal networks. Visitors stand over a soil universe displayed at their feet, where each surge of financial data triggers fresh disturbances: chemical waves, changes in microbial counts, or sudden variations in soil acidity. By weaving these elements together, As Above, So Below shows soil not as a static layer of dirt, but as a responsive system shaped by economic forces—yet still capable of reorganising itself through natural resilience and mindful human intervention.
Our soil model is partly governed by data-driven code—such as real-time updates that adjust fungal growth or bacterial decline. Yet, it also incorporates emergent behaviours: organic networks respond chaotically under stress or sudden input. In short, we’ve programmed certain rules (e.g., thresholds for chemical saturation or microbial resilience), but the resulting ‘dance’ of organisms remains unpredictable. Viewers’ interactions and shifting external inputs determine whether the system moves towards renewal or further degradation, reminding us that living ecologies are never fully under our control.
We often imagine our impact on the land as direct and visible—using tractors, chemicals, or seeds. Yet towering above those actions are speculative financial markets, whose trades and sudden shifts can ripple through entire ecosystems. By feeding market data into a soil simulation, As Above, So Below shows how economic choices—far removed from the farm—can change microbial balance, pH levels, and biodiversity in ways we don’t usually see.
To grasp this hidden chain of cause and effect, we need imaginative narratives—like interactive art or speculative fiction—that give shape to how capital flows become chemical imbalances in the soil. These creative spaces shine a light on the fact that high finance isn’t some distant, abstract force. Instead, it weaves through fungal threads and microbial loops, altering the living Earth in complex, often invisible ways.
Commissioned by Somerset House for the exhibition: SOIL: The World Beneath Our Feet, As Above, So Below (2024) is an interactive installation that uses computational biology and agent-based modelling to simulate biochemical, metabolic and planetary processes and transform them into sound.
The floor projections simulate a living soil ecosystem, showing interactions between organisms, nutrients and seeds. Live agroindustrial market data displays crop demand, whilst touch-sensitive ceramic seeds help restore balance to the projected ecosystem by altering the sound and light in the space. This reveals how key agents in soil formation are affected by external forces like the stock market—reflecting how speculative financial activities, upon which organic life ultimately depends, influence and distort the biological cycles of our world.
Visitor presence and interaction contributes to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate.
This interplay reveals how the speculative logic of financial markets and industrial griculture impacts deeply on our soil, challenging our understanding of human and more-than-human relationships in the age of digital capitalism. This installation proposes a critical reflection on the usage of computational systems and contemporary techno-colonial perspectives to understand these entanglements.
Artist Statement:
As Above, So Below continues our research into the impact of industrial agriculture and colonial technologies on soil health in the Global South. Centred on Colombia, our collaboration stems from a shared concern about the increasing threat to biodiversity and the intersection of technology, ecology, and economics. Through bioacoustics and data visualisation, we illuminate complex systems and hidden communication pathways between soil organisms and market forces, encouraging reconsideration of human actions on local and global scales. By inviting participants to interact with the installation, we hope to evoke a sense of connection and stewardship for the microcosmos beneath our feet.
As you enter the space you’ll see projected onto the floor a visualisation of soil microbiome, tiny little creatures moving around and multiplying. You’ll smell the earth, a scent custom made by us for the exhibition. The ambient sound feels almost like static electricity, as if you could hear every little movement happening in the soil around you. Straight ahead of you, hanging from the ceiling are two LED strips showing real time information of agritech companies on the stock market. Below the LED strips and to your left and right are three ceramic seeds on plinths, glowing in the darkness. These seeds are inviting you to touch them. As you get closer you can see the light shining out of small holes in the seeds and as you touch them, the light glows brighter and the sound around you increases, as the microbiome on the floor also begin to reproduce more. There is a sense of germination, of life being created, you have made the soil healthier through your touch.
We started by having several conversations about how we could expand our previous research, which through sound, looked at the detrimental effects of Genetically modified crops on soil in Colombia. This time we wanted to do more of a deep dive into the soil itself, thinking about how we could visualise what was going on in the soil when things above ground represented threats like pesticides killing off biodiversity for example. This is how the idea of the soil algorithm came about, Juan created a unique algorithm based on real data of soil microbiome, and then linked the data of the stock market so that this would affect the speed of the processes taking place in the soil. This took a lot of programming and designing and fine tuning the animations of the different bacteria. The idea for the seeds came about by imagining how insects are drawn to light, and how the audience could be drawn to these glowing seeds as if they were also part of the microbiome. We worked with ceramicists in Colombia to create these seeds out of clay, basing our designs on microscopic images of seeds. It was quite a lengthy process waiting for the clay to dry and seeing how the different colour effects would turn out after firing them, but we were really keen to use a natural material like clay. Then we had to do tests with the electronics, using the seeds as antennas that could be activated through touch and inserting a number of cables and lights into the seeds. We wanted to use the vertical LED strips to deepen this idea of how the world above ground affects the world below ground. This abstract information of the stock market, constantly in flux mirrors the ever changing world of the microbiome below. The sound is a mix of several recordings we have taken from the soil in an area called los llanos, Colombia, which has been ravaged by GM crops. These recordings have been paired with a granular synthetic effect to represent the movement of the soil microbiome. And this was set to Schuman Resonance of Earth to support organic processes.
The exhibition is multisensory in that it allows the audience to smell the soil, see and hear the microbiome and touch and interact with the ceramic seeds. It was important for us to create a world in which the audience could feel really embedded in the soil. The first thing to hit people as they enter will be the smell of wet earth, soil in all its glory. Then the visuals and sounds of the microbiome will engulf them as they walk further into the space. The seeds are meant to be touched and the more people that do touch them, the more the sound and visuals around them will change as they have been programmed to do this. The animations being projected onto the floor will begin to speed up as the microbiome reproduce, the sound will compliment this also. We wanted this idea of becoming part of the biodiversity in the soil to really stick with people. We hope that they will feel like guardians of the seeds and that this will invoke a call to action to also become guardians of soil. We knew that children would be part of the audience and that their relationship to soil and nature is so important for our future, so these multisensory elements are a way to invite them in more, to make soil more fun despite the more serious and abstract idea of how markets affect soil health.
Seeds contain within them the genetic information for all future expressions of a plant. They are emblems of the tension between life and death and beacons for the future.
Seeds can lie dormant for years, even millenia, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and industrial agriculture is limiting these conditions through intensive chemical processes and industry practices that damage the health of the soil.
In a report published in 2022 by the United Nations it was estimated that 90% of soils worldwide will be moderately to severely degraded by 2050 if we continue on our current trajectory. Global Seed vaults preserve the genetic heritage of plants, but these will be redundant in a future without soil.
In As Above, So Below, we wanted to demonstrate the complex and fragile relationship between the seeds and their environment and the impact of external forces - planetary and political, speculative and synthetic, human and non-human - but also look towards a positive future and demonstrate the potential for reparations between human and more-than-human worlds through biodiversity, community and mutual exchange.
The ceramic seeds contain internal antennas that respond to the audience touch through light and sound and we hope that by inviting the audience to engage directly with the seeds and contribute to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate will evoke a sense of connection and stewardship.
Agro-industrial growth is driven by market speculation and biased models that are designed for profit, and short term gain is often prioritised over long term security when it comes to soil health. Demand places excess strain on the soil and its inhabitants, depleting its resources and innate ability to repair and restore itself. In applying live market data to our soil simulation, we wanted to demonstrate the direct impact of economic systems on living organisms and how these above ground systems impact the growth of the inhabitants below, witnessed in the behaviour of the microorganisms as they respond to fluctuations in nutrient exchange, bacterial growth and fungal relationships.
For many people, speculative financial markets and economic systems remain at a distance, cloaked in abstraction. Equally, many people exist without much consideration for what lies beneath their feet, invisible from the surface.
Above, So Below demonstrates the real impact of these systems on the soil and in doing so, questions the choices that we make as individuals and as a society, and how they directly impact the more-than-human world.
Through bringing awareness to these entanglements, we are encouraged to question our connection with more-than-human worlds and how we might engage, communicate and support them. Without listening, there is no conversation and without conversation there is no partnership. We need to include voices beyond our own and shift our connection to the natural world from one of resource to relationship.
One of the principle barriers to human and non-human relationships is the lack of coherence we have when we engage with the more-than-human world. We often take our personal chaos into these spaces and lack true presence as we are distracted by our internal monologues. As Above, So Below, aims to bring awareness to the intimate entanglements between human and more-than human worlds and through immersion and interaction, encourage presence and connection.
We're currently developing a web app called Geomantra, which is a sonic meditation device designed to cultivate a state of cohesion and resonance that supports the practice of deep listening with the soil and its inhabitants.
The expansion of agro-industrial technologies and new forms of colonialism represented by GM monoculture crops, genetic extractivism, seed privatisation, industrial fertilisers and agricultural chemicals, are all disruptors to the biochemical language of the soil and the ability for microbes, fungi, plants, and animals to communicate, relate, respond, and adapt.
When these systems are healthy, they are in a state of harmonious resonance - catabolic and anabolic processes are relatively balanced - and these organisms are able to communicate effectively. When they are unhealthy, they respond chaotically, creating dissonance, greater entropy and a breakdown of these communication pathways.
We wanted to convey this dynamic through the soundscape for the installation, which uses biodata and field recordings of plants and subterranean recordings of the soil, with organic frequencies that support living systems such as the Schumann resonance of Earth, and granular synthesis for the microorganisms in the soil simulation. The audience will be able to sense fluctuations in the harmony and disharmony of the environment through sound as well as the visuals of the simulation.
As Above, So Below underscores how speculative financial phenomena and organic processes in the soil share a surprising yet consequential bond. We feed live market data into an adapted CENTURY model—commonly used to forecast land-use scenarios and nutrient flows—to illustrate how investing decisions and profit-driven logic can reshape microbial balances, pH levels, and protozoan activity beneath our feet. This project challenges the myth of a ‘neutral’ simulation: our code and data structures, even within scientific models, inevitably carry cultural and economic biases. By weaving the market’s fluctuations into a soil-focused framework, we expose how computational tools, far from being apolitical, can reinforce or subvert existing power structures—leading us to ask who truly benefits when nature’s complexity is reduced to an algorithmic forecast.
How does As Above, So Below represent the processes going on in the soil?
Rather than offering a simple visual metaphor, we rely on an algorithm that portrays the changing conditions of soil ecology—its microbial ties, nutrient transfers, and shifts in pH. We started with CENTURY’s core methods for modelling organic matter and decomposer cycles, then added extra components for protozoa behavior and fungal networks. Visitors stand over a soil universe displayed at their feet, where each surge of financial data triggers fresh disturbances: chemical waves, changes in microbial counts, or sudden variations in soil acidity. By weaving these elements together, As Above, So Below shows soil not as a static layer of dirt, but as a responsive system shaped by economic forces—yet still capable of reorganising itself through natural resilience and mindful human intervention.
Our soil model is partly governed by data-driven code—such as real-time updates that adjust fungal growth or bacterial decline. Yet, it also incorporates emergent behaviours: organic networks respond chaotically under stress or sudden input. In short, we’ve programmed certain rules (e.g., thresholds for chemical saturation or microbial resilience), but the resulting ‘dance’ of organisms remains unpredictable. Viewers’ interactions and shifting external inputs determine whether the system moves towards renewal or further degradation, reminding us that living ecologies are never fully under our control.
We often imagine our impact on the land as direct and visible—using tractors, chemicals, or seeds. Yet towering above those actions are speculative financial markets, whose trades and sudden shifts can ripple through entire ecosystems. By feeding market data into a soil simulation, As Above, So Below shows how economic choices—far removed from the farm—can change microbial balance, pH levels, and biodiversity in ways we don’t usually see.
To grasp this hidden chain of cause and effect, we need imaginative narratives—like interactive art or speculative fiction—that give shape to how capital flows become chemical imbalances in the soil. These creative spaces shine a light on the fact that high finance isn’t some distant, abstract force. Instead, it weaves through fungal threads and microbial loops, altering the living Earth in complex, often invisible ways.
Semantica is artist duo Jemma Foster and Camilla French, whose work explores fragile ecologies and interspecies communication through emerging technologies.Their practice incorporates biodata, sound, film, generative art and sculptural works. Collaborating with engineers, biologists and musicians to examine ways of sensing and co-creating with more-than-human worlds, they create large-scale interactive installations. They have produced projects about human and plant mythology, planetary processes, the soil microbiome, industrial agriculture and altered states of consciousness.
Juan Cortés is a Colombian electronic artist. His works take on multiple forms such as installation works, recordings, and concert pieces. Cortés is interested in investigative and interdisciplinary processes and the connections between art, science and pedagogical processes.
BY SEMANTICA (JEMMA FOSTER AND CAMILLA FRENCH), JUAN CORTÉS
Commissioned by Somerset House for the exhibition: SOIL: The World Beneath Our Feet, As Above, So Below (2024) is an interactive installation that uses computational biology and agent-based modelling to simulate biochemical, metabolic and planetary processes and transform them into sound.
The floor projections simulate a living soil ecosystem, showing interactions between organisms, nutrients and seeds. Live agroindustrial market data displays crop demand, whilst touch-sensitive ceramic seeds help restore balance to the projected ecosystem by altering the sound and light in the space. This reveals how key agents in soil formation are affected by external forces like the stock market—reflecting how speculative financial activities, upon which organic life ultimately depends, influence and distort the biological cycles of our world.
Visitor presence and interaction contributes to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate.
This interplay reveals how the speculative logic of financial markets and industrial griculture impacts deeply on our soil, challenging our understanding of human and more-than-human relationships in the age of digital capitalism. This installation proposes a critical reflection on the usage of computational systems and contemporary techno-colonial perspectives to understand these entanglements.
Artist Statement:
As Above, So Below continues our research into the impact of industrial agriculture and colonial technologies on soil health in the Global South. Centred on Colombia, our collaboration stems from a shared concern about the increasing threat to biodiversity and the intersection of technology, ecology, and economics. Through bioacoustics and data visualisation, we illuminate complex systems and hidden communication pathways between soil organisms and market forces, encouraging reconsideration of human actions on local and global scales. By inviting participants to interact with the installation, we hope to evoke a sense of connection and stewardship for the microcosmos beneath our feet.
As you enter the space you’ll see projected onto the floor a visualisation of soil microbiome, tiny little creatures moving around and multiplying. You’ll smell the earth, a scent custom made by us for the exhibition. The ambient sound feels almost like static electricity, as if you could hear every little movement happening in the soil around you. Straight ahead of you, hanging from the ceiling are two LED strips showing real time information of agritech companies on the stock market. Below the LED strips and to your left and right are three ceramic seeds on plinths, glowing in the darkness. These seeds are inviting you to touch them. As you get closer you can see the light shining out of small holes in the seeds and as you touch them, the light glows brighter and the sound around you increases, as the microbiome on the floor also begin to reproduce more. There is a sense of germination, of life being created, you have made the soil healthier through your touch.
We started by having several conversations about how we could expand our previous research, which through sound, looked at the detrimental effects of Genetically modified crops on soil in Colombia. This time we wanted to do more of a deep dive into the soil itself, thinking about how we could visualise what was going on in the soil when things above ground represented threats like pesticides killing off biodiversity for example. This is how the idea of the soil algorithm came about, Juan created a unique algorithm based on real data of soil microbiome, and then linked the data of the stock market so that this would affect the speed of the processes taking place in the soil. This took a lot of programming and designing and fine tuning the animations of the different bacteria. The idea for the seeds came about by imagining how insects are drawn to light, and how the audience could be drawn to these glowing seeds as if they were also part of the microbiome. We worked with ceramicists in Colombia to create these seeds out of clay, basing our designs on microscopic images of seeds. It was quite a lengthy process waiting for the clay to dry and seeing how the different colour effects would turn out after firing them, but we were really keen to use a natural material like clay. Then we had to do tests with the electronics, using the seeds as antennas that could be activated through touch and inserting a number of cables and lights into the seeds. We wanted to use the vertical LED strips to deepen this idea of how the world above ground affects the world below ground. This abstract information of the stock market, constantly in flux mirrors the ever changing world of the microbiome below. The sound is a mix of several recordings we have taken from the soil in an area called los llanos, Colombia, which has been ravaged by GM crops. These recordings have been paired with a granular synthetic effect to represent the movement of the soil microbiome. And this was set to Schuman Resonance of Earth to support organic processes.
The exhibition is multisensory in that it allows the audience to smell the soil, see and hear the microbiome and touch and interact with the ceramic seeds. It was important for us to create a world in which the audience could feel really embedded in the soil. The first thing to hit people as they enter will be the smell of wet earth, soil in all its glory. Then the visuals and sounds of the microbiome will engulf them as they walk further into the space. The seeds are meant to be touched and the more people that do touch them, the more the sound and visuals around them will change as they have been programmed to do this. The animations being projected onto the floor will begin to speed up as the microbiome reproduce, the sound will compliment this also. We wanted this idea of becoming part of the biodiversity in the soil to really stick with people. We hope that they will feel like guardians of the seeds and that this will invoke a call to action to also become guardians of soil. We knew that children would be part of the audience and that their relationship to soil and nature is so important for our future, so these multisensory elements are a way to invite them in more, to make soil more fun despite the more serious and abstract idea of how markets affect soil health.
Seeds contain within them the genetic information for all future expressions of a plant. They are emblems of the tension between life and death and beacons for the future.
Seeds can lie dormant for years, even millenia, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and industrial agriculture is limiting these conditions through intensive chemical processes and industry practices that damage the health of the soil.
In a report published in 2022 by the United Nations it was estimated that 90% of soils worldwide will be moderately to severely degraded by 2050 if we continue on our current trajectory. Global Seed vaults preserve the genetic heritage of plants, but these will be redundant in a future without soil.
In As Above, So Below, we wanted to demonstrate the complex and fragile relationship between the seeds and their environment and the impact of external forces - planetary and political, speculative and synthetic, human and non-human - but also look towards a positive future and demonstrate the potential for reparations between human and more-than-human worlds through biodiversity, community and mutual exchange.
The ceramic seeds contain internal antennas that respond to the audience touch through light and sound and we hope that by inviting the audience to engage directly with the seeds and contribute to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate will evoke a sense of connection and stewardship.
Agro-industrial growth is driven by market speculation and biased models that are designed for profit, and short term gain is often prioritised over long term security when it comes to soil health. Demand places excess strain on the soil and its inhabitants, depleting its resources and innate ability to repair and restore itself. In applying live market data to our soil simulation, we wanted to demonstrate the direct impact of economic systems on living organisms and how these above ground systems impact the growth of the inhabitants below, witnessed in the behaviour of the microorganisms as they respond to fluctuations in nutrient exchange, bacterial growth and fungal relationships.
For many people, speculative financial markets and economic systems remain at a distance, cloaked in abstraction. Equally, many people exist without much consideration for what lies beneath their feet, invisible from the surface.
Above, So Below demonstrates the real impact of these systems on the soil and in doing so, questions the choices that we make as individuals and as a society, and how they directly impact the more-than-human world.
Through bringing awareness to these entanglements, we are encouraged to question our connection with more-than-human worlds and how we might engage, communicate and support them. Without listening, there is no conversation and without conversation there is no partnership. We need to include voices beyond our own and shift our connection to the natural world from one of resource to relationship.
One of the principle barriers to human and non-human relationships is the lack of coherence we have when we engage with the more-than-human world. We often take our personal chaos into these spaces and lack true presence as we are distracted by our internal monologues. As Above, So Below, aims to bring awareness to the intimate entanglements between human and more-than human worlds and through immersion and interaction, encourage presence and connection.
We're currently developing a web app called Geomantra, which is a sonic meditation device designed to cultivate a state of cohesion and resonance that supports the practice of deep listening with the soil and its inhabitants.
The expansion of agro-industrial technologies and new forms of colonialism represented by GM monoculture crops, genetic extractivism, seed privatisation, industrial fertilisers and agricultural chemicals, are all disruptors to the biochemical language of the soil and the ability for microbes, fungi, plants, and animals to communicate, relate, respond, and adapt.
When these systems are healthy, they are in a state of harmonious resonance - catabolic and anabolic processes are relatively balanced - and these organisms are able to communicate effectively. When they are unhealthy, they respond chaotically, creating dissonance, greater entropy and a breakdown of these communication pathways.
We wanted to convey this dynamic through the soundscape for the installation, which uses biodata and field recordings of plants and subterranean recordings of the soil, with organic frequencies that support living systems such as the Schumann resonance of Earth, and granular synthesis for the microorganisms in the soil simulation. The audience will be able to sense fluctuations in the harmony and disharmony of the environment through sound as well as the visuals of the simulation.
As Above, So Below underscores how speculative financial phenomena and organic processes in the soil share a surprising yet consequential bond. We feed live market data into an adapted CENTURY model—commonly used to forecast land-use scenarios and nutrient flows—to illustrate how investing decisions and profit-driven logic can reshape microbial balances, pH levels, and protozoan activity beneath our feet. This project challenges the myth of a ‘neutral’ simulation: our code and data structures, even within scientific models, inevitably carry cultural and economic biases. By weaving the market’s fluctuations into a soil-focused framework, we expose how computational tools, far from being apolitical, can reinforce or subvert existing power structures—leading us to ask who truly benefits when nature’s complexity is reduced to an algorithmic forecast.
How does As Above, So Below represent the processes going on in the soil?
Rather than offering a simple visual metaphor, we rely on an algorithm that portrays the changing conditions of soil ecology—its microbial ties, nutrient transfers, and shifts in pH. We started with CENTURY’s core methods for modelling organic matter and decomposer cycles, then added extra components for protozoa behavior and fungal networks. Visitors stand over a soil universe displayed at their feet, where each surge of financial data triggers fresh disturbances: chemical waves, changes in microbial counts, or sudden variations in soil acidity. By weaving these elements together, As Above, So Below shows soil not as a static layer of dirt, but as a responsive system shaped by economic forces—yet still capable of reorganising itself through natural resilience and mindful human intervention.
Our soil model is partly governed by data-driven code—such as real-time updates that adjust fungal growth or bacterial decline. Yet, it also incorporates emergent behaviours: organic networks respond chaotically under stress or sudden input. In short, we’ve programmed certain rules (e.g., thresholds for chemical saturation or microbial resilience), but the resulting ‘dance’ of organisms remains unpredictable. Viewers’ interactions and shifting external inputs determine whether the system moves towards renewal or further degradation, reminding us that living ecologies are never fully under our control.
We often imagine our impact on the land as direct and visible—using tractors, chemicals, or seeds. Yet towering above those actions are speculative financial markets, whose trades and sudden shifts can ripple through entire ecosystems. By feeding market data into a soil simulation, As Above, So Below shows how economic choices—far removed from the farm—can change microbial balance, pH levels, and biodiversity in ways we don’t usually see.
To grasp this hidden chain of cause and effect, we need imaginative narratives—like interactive art or speculative fiction—that give shape to how capital flows become chemical imbalances in the soil. These creative spaces shine a light on the fact that high finance isn’t some distant, abstract force. Instead, it weaves through fungal threads and microbial loops, altering the living Earth in complex, often invisible ways.
Commissioned by Somerset House for the exhibition: SOIL: The World Beneath Our Feet, As Above, So Below (2024) is an interactive installation that uses computational biology and agent-based modelling to simulate biochemical, metabolic and planetary processes and transform them into sound.
The floor projections simulate a living soil ecosystem, showing interactions between organisms, nutrients and seeds. Live agroindustrial market data displays crop demand, whilst touch-sensitive ceramic seeds help restore balance to the projected ecosystem by altering the sound and light in the space. This reveals how key agents in soil formation are affected by external forces like the stock market—reflecting how speculative financial activities, upon which organic life ultimately depends, influence and distort the biological cycles of our world.
Visitor presence and interaction contributes to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate.
This interplay reveals how the speculative logic of financial markets and industrial griculture impacts deeply on our soil, challenging our understanding of human and more-than-human relationships in the age of digital capitalism. This installation proposes a critical reflection on the usage of computational systems and contemporary techno-colonial perspectives to understand these entanglements.
Artist Statement:
As Above, So Below continues our research into the impact of industrial agriculture and colonial technologies on soil health in the Global South. Centred on Colombia, our collaboration stems from a shared concern about the increasing threat to biodiversity and the intersection of technology, ecology, and economics. Through bioacoustics and data visualisation, we illuminate complex systems and hidden communication pathways between soil organisms and market forces, encouraging reconsideration of human actions on local and global scales. By inviting participants to interact with the installation, we hope to evoke a sense of connection and stewardship for the microcosmos beneath our feet.
As you enter the space you’ll see projected onto the floor a visualisation of soil microbiome, tiny little creatures moving around and multiplying. You’ll smell the earth, a scent custom made by us for the exhibition. The ambient sound feels almost like static electricity, as if you could hear every little movement happening in the soil around you. Straight ahead of you, hanging from the ceiling are two LED strips showing real time information of agritech companies on the stock market. Below the LED strips and to your left and right are three ceramic seeds on plinths, glowing in the darkness. These seeds are inviting you to touch them. As you get closer you can see the light shining out of small holes in the seeds and as you touch them, the light glows brighter and the sound around you increases, as the microbiome on the floor also begin to reproduce more. There is a sense of germination, of life being created, you have made the soil healthier through your touch.
We started by having several conversations about how we could expand our previous research, which through sound, looked at the detrimental effects of Genetically modified crops on soil in Colombia. This time we wanted to do more of a deep dive into the soil itself, thinking about how we could visualise what was going on in the soil when things above ground represented threats like pesticides killing off biodiversity for example. This is how the idea of the soil algorithm came about, Juan created a unique algorithm based on real data of soil microbiome, and then linked the data of the stock market so that this would affect the speed of the processes taking place in the soil. This took a lot of programming and designing and fine tuning the animations of the different bacteria. The idea for the seeds came about by imagining how insects are drawn to light, and how the audience could be drawn to these glowing seeds as if they were also part of the microbiome. We worked with ceramicists in Colombia to create these seeds out of clay, basing our designs on microscopic images of seeds. It was quite a lengthy process waiting for the clay to dry and seeing how the different colour effects would turn out after firing them, but we were really keen to use a natural material like clay. Then we had to do tests with the electronics, using the seeds as antennas that could be activated through touch and inserting a number of cables and lights into the seeds. We wanted to use the vertical LED strips to deepen this idea of how the world above ground affects the world below ground. This abstract information of the stock market, constantly in flux mirrors the ever changing world of the microbiome below. The sound is a mix of several recordings we have taken from the soil in an area called los llanos, Colombia, which has been ravaged by GM crops. These recordings have been paired with a granular synthetic effect to represent the movement of the soil microbiome. And this was set to Schuman Resonance of Earth to support organic processes.
The exhibition is multisensory in that it allows the audience to smell the soil, see and hear the microbiome and touch and interact with the ceramic seeds. It was important for us to create a world in which the audience could feel really embedded in the soil. The first thing to hit people as they enter will be the smell of wet earth, soil in all its glory. Then the visuals and sounds of the microbiome will engulf them as they walk further into the space. The seeds are meant to be touched and the more people that do touch them, the more the sound and visuals around them will change as they have been programmed to do this. The animations being projected onto the floor will begin to speed up as the microbiome reproduce, the sound will compliment this also. We wanted this idea of becoming part of the biodiversity in the soil to really stick with people. We hope that they will feel like guardians of the seeds and that this will invoke a call to action to also become guardians of soil. We knew that children would be part of the audience and that their relationship to soil and nature is so important for our future, so these multisensory elements are a way to invite them in more, to make soil more fun despite the more serious and abstract idea of how markets affect soil health.
Seeds contain within them the genetic information for all future expressions of a plant. They are emblems of the tension between life and death and beacons for the future.
Seeds can lie dormant for years, even millenia, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and industrial agriculture is limiting these conditions through intensive chemical processes and industry practices that damage the health of the soil.
In a report published in 2022 by the United Nations it was estimated that 90% of soils worldwide will be moderately to severely degraded by 2050 if we continue on our current trajectory. Global Seed vaults preserve the genetic heritage of plants, but these will be redundant in a future without soil.
In As Above, So Below, we wanted to demonstrate the complex and fragile relationship between the seeds and their environment and the impact of external forces - planetary and political, speculative and synthetic, human and non-human - but also look towards a positive future and demonstrate the potential for reparations between human and more-than-human worlds through biodiversity, community and mutual exchange.
The ceramic seeds contain internal antennas that respond to the audience touch through light and sound and we hope that by inviting the audience to engage directly with the seeds and contribute to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate will evoke a sense of connection and stewardship.
Agro-industrial growth is driven by market speculation and biased models that are designed for profit, and short term gain is often prioritised over long term security when it comes to soil health. Demand places excess strain on the soil and its inhabitants, depleting its resources and innate ability to repair and restore itself. In applying live market data to our soil simulation, we wanted to demonstrate the direct impact of economic systems on living organisms and how these above ground systems impact the growth of the inhabitants below, witnessed in the behaviour of the microorganisms as they respond to fluctuations in nutrient exchange, bacterial growth and fungal relationships.
For many people, speculative financial markets and economic systems remain at a distance, cloaked in abstraction. Equally, many people exist without much consideration for what lies beneath their feet, invisible from the surface.
Above, So Below demonstrates the real impact of these systems on the soil and in doing so, questions the choices that we make as individuals and as a society, and how they directly impact the more-than-human world.
Through bringing awareness to these entanglements, we are encouraged to question our connection with more-than-human worlds and how we might engage, communicate and support them. Without listening, there is no conversation and without conversation there is no partnership. We need to include voices beyond our own and shift our connection to the natural world from one of resource to relationship.
One of the principle barriers to human and non-human relationships is the lack of coherence we have when we engage with the more-than-human world. We often take our personal chaos into these spaces and lack true presence as we are distracted by our internal monologues. As Above, So Below, aims to bring awareness to the intimate entanglements between human and more-than human worlds and through immersion and interaction, encourage presence and connection.
We're currently developing a web app called Geomantra, which is a sonic meditation device designed to cultivate a state of cohesion and resonance that supports the practice of deep listening with the soil and its inhabitants.
The expansion of agro-industrial technologies and new forms of colonialism represented by GM monoculture crops, genetic extractivism, seed privatisation, industrial fertilisers and agricultural chemicals, are all disruptors to the biochemical language of the soil and the ability for microbes, fungi, plants, and animals to communicate, relate, respond, and adapt.
When these systems are healthy, they are in a state of harmonious resonance - catabolic and anabolic processes are relatively balanced - and these organisms are able to communicate effectively. When they are unhealthy, they respond chaotically, creating dissonance, greater entropy and a breakdown of these communication pathways.
We wanted to convey this dynamic through the soundscape for the installation, which uses biodata and field recordings of plants and subterranean recordings of the soil, with organic frequencies that support living systems such as the Schumann resonance of Earth, and granular synthesis for the microorganisms in the soil simulation. The audience will be able to sense fluctuations in the harmony and disharmony of the environment through sound as well as the visuals of the simulation.
As Above, So Below underscores how speculative financial phenomena and organic processes in the soil share a surprising yet consequential bond. We feed live market data into an adapted CENTURY model—commonly used to forecast land-use scenarios and nutrient flows—to illustrate how investing decisions and profit-driven logic can reshape microbial balances, pH levels, and protozoan activity beneath our feet. This project challenges the myth of a ‘neutral’ simulation: our code and data structures, even within scientific models, inevitably carry cultural and economic biases. By weaving the market’s fluctuations into a soil-focused framework, we expose how computational tools, far from being apolitical, can reinforce or subvert existing power structures—leading us to ask who truly benefits when nature’s complexity is reduced to an algorithmic forecast.
How does As Above, So Below represent the processes going on in the soil?
Rather than offering a simple visual metaphor, we rely on an algorithm that portrays the changing conditions of soil ecology—its microbial ties, nutrient transfers, and shifts in pH. We started with CENTURY’s core methods for modelling organic matter and decomposer cycles, then added extra components for protozoa behavior and fungal networks. Visitors stand over a soil universe displayed at their feet, where each surge of financial data triggers fresh disturbances: chemical waves, changes in microbial counts, or sudden variations in soil acidity. By weaving these elements together, As Above, So Below shows soil not as a static layer of dirt, but as a responsive system shaped by economic forces—yet still capable of reorganising itself through natural resilience and mindful human intervention.
Our soil model is partly governed by data-driven code—such as real-time updates that adjust fungal growth or bacterial decline. Yet, it also incorporates emergent behaviours: organic networks respond chaotically under stress or sudden input. In short, we’ve programmed certain rules (e.g., thresholds for chemical saturation or microbial resilience), but the resulting ‘dance’ of organisms remains unpredictable. Viewers’ interactions and shifting external inputs determine whether the system moves towards renewal or further degradation, reminding us that living ecologies are never fully under our control.
We often imagine our impact on the land as direct and visible—using tractors, chemicals, or seeds. Yet towering above those actions are speculative financial markets, whose trades and sudden shifts can ripple through entire ecosystems. By feeding market data into a soil simulation, As Above, So Below shows how economic choices—far removed from the farm—can change microbial balance, pH levels, and biodiversity in ways we don’t usually see.
To grasp this hidden chain of cause and effect, we need imaginative narratives—like interactive art or speculative fiction—that give shape to how capital flows become chemical imbalances in the soil. These creative spaces shine a light on the fact that high finance isn’t some distant, abstract force. Instead, it weaves through fungal threads and microbial loops, altering the living Earth in complex, often invisible ways.
Semantica is artist duo Jemma Foster and Camilla French, whose work explores fragile ecologies and interspecies communication through emerging technologies.Their practice incorporates biodata, sound, film, generative art and sculptural works. Collaborating with engineers, biologists and musicians to examine ways of sensing and co-creating with more-than-human worlds, they create large-scale interactive installations. They have produced projects about human and plant mythology, planetary processes, the soil microbiome, industrial agriculture and altered states of consciousness.
Juan Cortés is a Colombian electronic artist. His works take on multiple forms such as installation works, recordings, and concert pieces. Cortés is interested in investigative and interdisciplinary processes and the connections between art, science and pedagogical processes.
BY SEMANTICA (JEMMA FOSTER AND CAMILLA FRENCH), JUAN CORTÉS
Commissioned by Somerset House for the exhibition: SOIL: The World Beneath Our Feet, As Above, So Below (2024) is an interactive installation that uses computational biology and agent-based modelling to simulate biochemical, metabolic and planetary processes and transform them into sound.
The floor projections simulate a living soil ecosystem, showing interactions between organisms, nutrients and seeds. Live agroindustrial market data displays crop demand, whilst touch-sensitive ceramic seeds help restore balance to the projected ecosystem by altering the sound and light in the space. This reveals how key agents in soil formation are affected by external forces like the stock market—reflecting how speculative financial activities, upon which organic life ultimately depends, influence and distort the biological cycles of our world.
Visitor presence and interaction contributes to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate.
This interplay reveals how the speculative logic of financial markets and industrial griculture impacts deeply on our soil, challenging our understanding of human and more-than-human relationships in the age of digital capitalism. This installation proposes a critical reflection on the usage of computational systems and contemporary techno-colonial perspectives to understand these entanglements.
Artist Statement:
As Above, So Below continues our research into the impact of industrial agriculture and colonial technologies on soil health in the Global South. Centred on Colombia, our collaboration stems from a shared concern about the increasing threat to biodiversity and the intersection of technology, ecology, and economics. Through bioacoustics and data visualisation, we illuminate complex systems and hidden communication pathways between soil organisms and market forces, encouraging reconsideration of human actions on local and global scales. By inviting participants to interact with the installation, we hope to evoke a sense of connection and stewardship for the microcosmos beneath our feet.
As you enter the space you’ll see projected onto the floor a visualisation of soil microbiome, tiny little creatures moving around and multiplying. You’ll smell the earth, a scent custom made by us for the exhibition. The ambient sound feels almost like static electricity, as if you could hear every little movement happening in the soil around you. Straight ahead of you, hanging from the ceiling are two LED strips showing real time information of agritech companies on the stock market. Below the LED strips and to your left and right are three ceramic seeds on plinths, glowing in the darkness. These seeds are inviting you to touch them. As you get closer you can see the light shining out of small holes in the seeds and as you touch them, the light glows brighter and the sound around you increases, as the microbiome on the floor also begin to reproduce more. There is a sense of germination, of life being created, you have made the soil healthier through your touch.
We started by having several conversations about how we could expand our previous research, which through sound, looked at the detrimental effects of Genetically modified crops on soil in Colombia. This time we wanted to do more of a deep dive into the soil itself, thinking about how we could visualise what was going on in the soil when things above ground represented threats like pesticides killing off biodiversity for example. This is how the idea of the soil algorithm came about, Juan created a unique algorithm based on real data of soil microbiome, and then linked the data of the stock market so that this would affect the speed of the processes taking place in the soil. This took a lot of programming and designing and fine tuning the animations of the different bacteria. The idea for the seeds came about by imagining how insects are drawn to light, and how the audience could be drawn to these glowing seeds as if they were also part of the microbiome. We worked with ceramicists in Colombia to create these seeds out of clay, basing our designs on microscopic images of seeds. It was quite a lengthy process waiting for the clay to dry and seeing how the different colour effects would turn out after firing them, but we were really keen to use a natural material like clay. Then we had to do tests with the electronics, using the seeds as antennas that could be activated through touch and inserting a number of cables and lights into the seeds. We wanted to use the vertical LED strips to deepen this idea of how the world above ground affects the world below ground. This abstract information of the stock market, constantly in flux mirrors the ever changing world of the microbiome below. The sound is a mix of several recordings we have taken from the soil in an area called los llanos, Colombia, which has been ravaged by GM crops. These recordings have been paired with a granular synthetic effect to represent the movement of the soil microbiome. And this was set to Schuman Resonance of Earth to support organic processes.
The exhibition is multisensory in that it allows the audience to smell the soil, see and hear the microbiome and touch and interact with the ceramic seeds. It was important for us to create a world in which the audience could feel really embedded in the soil. The first thing to hit people as they enter will be the smell of wet earth, soil in all its glory. Then the visuals and sounds of the microbiome will engulf them as they walk further into the space. The seeds are meant to be touched and the more people that do touch them, the more the sound and visuals around them will change as they have been programmed to do this. The animations being projected onto the floor will begin to speed up as the microbiome reproduce, the sound will compliment this also. We wanted this idea of becoming part of the biodiversity in the soil to really stick with people. We hope that they will feel like guardians of the seeds and that this will invoke a call to action to also become guardians of soil. We knew that children would be part of the audience and that their relationship to soil and nature is so important for our future, so these multisensory elements are a way to invite them in more, to make soil more fun despite the more serious and abstract idea of how markets affect soil health.
Seeds contain within them the genetic information for all future expressions of a plant. They are emblems of the tension between life and death and beacons for the future.
Seeds can lie dormant for years, even millenia, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and industrial agriculture is limiting these conditions through intensive chemical processes and industry practices that damage the health of the soil.
In a report published in 2022 by the United Nations it was estimated that 90% of soils worldwide will be moderately to severely degraded by 2050 if we continue on our current trajectory. Global Seed vaults preserve the genetic heritage of plants, but these will be redundant in a future without soil.
In As Above, So Below, we wanted to demonstrate the complex and fragile relationship between the seeds and their environment and the impact of external forces - planetary and political, speculative and synthetic, human and non-human - but also look towards a positive future and demonstrate the potential for reparations between human and more-than-human worlds through biodiversity, community and mutual exchange.
The ceramic seeds contain internal antennas that respond to the audience touch through light and sound and we hope that by inviting the audience to engage directly with the seeds and contribute to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate will evoke a sense of connection and stewardship.
Agro-industrial growth is driven by market speculation and biased models that are designed for profit, and short term gain is often prioritised over long term security when it comes to soil health. Demand places excess strain on the soil and its inhabitants, depleting its resources and innate ability to repair and restore itself. In applying live market data to our soil simulation, we wanted to demonstrate the direct impact of economic systems on living organisms and how these above ground systems impact the growth of the inhabitants below, witnessed in the behaviour of the microorganisms as they respond to fluctuations in nutrient exchange, bacterial growth and fungal relationships.
For many people, speculative financial markets and economic systems remain at a distance, cloaked in abstraction. Equally, many people exist without much consideration for what lies beneath their feet, invisible from the surface.
Above, So Below demonstrates the real impact of these systems on the soil and in doing so, questions the choices that we make as individuals and as a society, and how they directly impact the more-than-human world.
Through bringing awareness to these entanglements, we are encouraged to question our connection with more-than-human worlds and how we might engage, communicate and support them. Without listening, there is no conversation and without conversation there is no partnership. We need to include voices beyond our own and shift our connection to the natural world from one of resource to relationship.
One of the principle barriers to human and non-human relationships is the lack of coherence we have when we engage with the more-than-human world. We often take our personal chaos into these spaces and lack true presence as we are distracted by our internal monologues. As Above, So Below, aims to bring awareness to the intimate entanglements between human and more-than human worlds and through immersion and interaction, encourage presence and connection.
We're currently developing a web app called Geomantra, which is a sonic meditation device designed to cultivate a state of cohesion and resonance that supports the practice of deep listening with the soil and its inhabitants.
The expansion of agro-industrial technologies and new forms of colonialism represented by GM monoculture crops, genetic extractivism, seed privatisation, industrial fertilisers and agricultural chemicals, are all disruptors to the biochemical language of the soil and the ability for microbes, fungi, plants, and animals to communicate, relate, respond, and adapt.
When these systems are healthy, they are in a state of harmonious resonance - catabolic and anabolic processes are relatively balanced - and these organisms are able to communicate effectively. When they are unhealthy, they respond chaotically, creating dissonance, greater entropy and a breakdown of these communication pathways.
We wanted to convey this dynamic through the soundscape for the installation, which uses biodata and field recordings of plants and subterranean recordings of the soil, with organic frequencies that support living systems such as the Schumann resonance of Earth, and granular synthesis for the microorganisms in the soil simulation. The audience will be able to sense fluctuations in the harmony and disharmony of the environment through sound as well as the visuals of the simulation.
As Above, So Below underscores how speculative financial phenomena and organic processes in the soil share a surprising yet consequential bond. We feed live market data into an adapted CENTURY model—commonly used to forecast land-use scenarios and nutrient flows—to illustrate how investing decisions and profit-driven logic can reshape microbial balances, pH levels, and protozoan activity beneath our feet. This project challenges the myth of a ‘neutral’ simulation: our code and data structures, even within scientific models, inevitably carry cultural and economic biases. By weaving the market’s fluctuations into a soil-focused framework, we expose how computational tools, far from being apolitical, can reinforce or subvert existing power structures—leading us to ask who truly benefits when nature’s complexity is reduced to an algorithmic forecast.
How does As Above, So Below represent the processes going on in the soil?
Rather than offering a simple visual metaphor, we rely on an algorithm that portrays the changing conditions of soil ecology—its microbial ties, nutrient transfers, and shifts in pH. We started with CENTURY’s core methods for modelling organic matter and decomposer cycles, then added extra components for protozoa behavior and fungal networks. Visitors stand over a soil universe displayed at their feet, where each surge of financial data triggers fresh disturbances: chemical waves, changes in microbial counts, or sudden variations in soil acidity. By weaving these elements together, As Above, So Below shows soil not as a static layer of dirt, but as a responsive system shaped by economic forces—yet still capable of reorganising itself through natural resilience and mindful human intervention.
Our soil model is partly governed by data-driven code—such as real-time updates that adjust fungal growth or bacterial decline. Yet, it also incorporates emergent behaviours: organic networks respond chaotically under stress or sudden input. In short, we’ve programmed certain rules (e.g., thresholds for chemical saturation or microbial resilience), but the resulting ‘dance’ of organisms remains unpredictable. Viewers’ interactions and shifting external inputs determine whether the system moves towards renewal or further degradation, reminding us that living ecologies are never fully under our control.
We often imagine our impact on the land as direct and visible—using tractors, chemicals, or seeds. Yet towering above those actions are speculative financial markets, whose trades and sudden shifts can ripple through entire ecosystems. By feeding market data into a soil simulation, As Above, So Below shows how economic choices—far removed from the farm—can change microbial balance, pH levels, and biodiversity in ways we don’t usually see.
To grasp this hidden chain of cause and effect, we need imaginative narratives—like interactive art or speculative fiction—that give shape to how capital flows become chemical imbalances in the soil. These creative spaces shine a light on the fact that high finance isn’t some distant, abstract force. Instead, it weaves through fungal threads and microbial loops, altering the living Earth in complex, often invisible ways.
Commissioned by Somerset House for the exhibition: SOIL: The World Beneath Our Feet, As Above, So Below (2024) is an interactive installation that uses computational biology and agent-based modelling to simulate biochemical, metabolic and planetary processes and transform them into sound.
The floor projections simulate a living soil ecosystem, showing interactions between organisms, nutrients and seeds. Live agroindustrial market data displays crop demand, whilst touch-sensitive ceramic seeds help restore balance to the projected ecosystem by altering the sound and light in the space. This reveals how key agents in soil formation are affected by external forces like the stock market—reflecting how speculative financial activities, upon which organic life ultimately depends, influence and distort the biological cycles of our world.
Visitor presence and interaction contributes to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate.
This interplay reveals how the speculative logic of financial markets and industrial griculture impacts deeply on our soil, challenging our understanding of human and more-than-human relationships in the age of digital capitalism. This installation proposes a critical reflection on the usage of computational systems and contemporary techno-colonial perspectives to understand these entanglements.
Artist Statement:
As Above, So Below continues our research into the impact of industrial agriculture and colonial technologies on soil health in the Global South. Centred on Colombia, our collaboration stems from a shared concern about the increasing threat to biodiversity and the intersection of technology, ecology, and economics. Through bioacoustics and data visualisation, we illuminate complex systems and hidden communication pathways between soil organisms and market forces, encouraging reconsideration of human actions on local and global scales. By inviting participants to interact with the installation, we hope to evoke a sense of connection and stewardship for the microcosmos beneath our feet.
As you enter the space you’ll see projected onto the floor a visualisation of soil microbiome, tiny little creatures moving around and multiplying. You’ll smell the earth, a scent custom made by us for the exhibition. The ambient sound feels almost like static electricity, as if you could hear every little movement happening in the soil around you. Straight ahead of you, hanging from the ceiling are two LED strips showing real time information of agritech companies on the stock market. Below the LED strips and to your left and right are three ceramic seeds on plinths, glowing in the darkness. These seeds are inviting you to touch them. As you get closer you can see the light shining out of small holes in the seeds and as you touch them, the light glows brighter and the sound around you increases, as the microbiome on the floor also begin to reproduce more. There is a sense of germination, of life being created, you have made the soil healthier through your touch.
We started by having several conversations about how we could expand our previous research, which through sound, looked at the detrimental effects of Genetically modified crops on soil in Colombia. This time we wanted to do more of a deep dive into the soil itself, thinking about how we could visualise what was going on in the soil when things above ground represented threats like pesticides killing off biodiversity for example. This is how the idea of the soil algorithm came about, Juan created a unique algorithm based on real data of soil microbiome, and then linked the data of the stock market so that this would affect the speed of the processes taking place in the soil. This took a lot of programming and designing and fine tuning the animations of the different bacteria. The idea for the seeds came about by imagining how insects are drawn to light, and how the audience could be drawn to these glowing seeds as if they were also part of the microbiome. We worked with ceramicists in Colombia to create these seeds out of clay, basing our designs on microscopic images of seeds. It was quite a lengthy process waiting for the clay to dry and seeing how the different colour effects would turn out after firing them, but we were really keen to use a natural material like clay. Then we had to do tests with the electronics, using the seeds as antennas that could be activated through touch and inserting a number of cables and lights into the seeds. We wanted to use the vertical LED strips to deepen this idea of how the world above ground affects the world below ground. This abstract information of the stock market, constantly in flux mirrors the ever changing world of the microbiome below. The sound is a mix of several recordings we have taken from the soil in an area called los llanos, Colombia, which has been ravaged by GM crops. These recordings have been paired with a granular synthetic effect to represent the movement of the soil microbiome. And this was set to Schuman Resonance of Earth to support organic processes.
The exhibition is multisensory in that it allows the audience to smell the soil, see and hear the microbiome and touch and interact with the ceramic seeds. It was important for us to create a world in which the audience could feel really embedded in the soil. The first thing to hit people as they enter will be the smell of wet earth, soil in all its glory. Then the visuals and sounds of the microbiome will engulf them as they walk further into the space. The seeds are meant to be touched and the more people that do touch them, the more the sound and visuals around them will change as they have been programmed to do this. The animations being projected onto the floor will begin to speed up as the microbiome reproduce, the sound will compliment this also. We wanted this idea of becoming part of the biodiversity in the soil to really stick with people. We hope that they will feel like guardians of the seeds and that this will invoke a call to action to also become guardians of soil. We knew that children would be part of the audience and that their relationship to soil and nature is so important for our future, so these multisensory elements are a way to invite them in more, to make soil more fun despite the more serious and abstract idea of how markets affect soil health.
Seeds contain within them the genetic information for all future expressions of a plant. They are emblems of the tension between life and death and beacons for the future.
Seeds can lie dormant for years, even millenia, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and industrial agriculture is limiting these conditions through intensive chemical processes and industry practices that damage the health of the soil.
In a report published in 2022 by the United Nations it was estimated that 90% of soils worldwide will be moderately to severely degraded by 2050 if we continue on our current trajectory. Global Seed vaults preserve the genetic heritage of plants, but these will be redundant in a future without soil.
In As Above, So Below, we wanted to demonstrate the complex and fragile relationship between the seeds and their environment and the impact of external forces - planetary and political, speculative and synthetic, human and non-human - but also look towards a positive future and demonstrate the potential for reparations between human and more-than-human worlds through biodiversity, community and mutual exchange.
The ceramic seeds contain internal antennas that respond to the audience touch through light and sound and we hope that by inviting the audience to engage directly with the seeds and contribute to the virtual biodiversity of the space, repairing broken pathways and revitalising the soil, supporting the seeds to germinate will evoke a sense of connection and stewardship.
Agro-industrial growth is driven by market speculation and biased models that are designed for profit, and short term gain is often prioritised over long term security when it comes to soil health. Demand places excess strain on the soil and its inhabitants, depleting its resources and innate ability to repair and restore itself. In applying live market data to our soil simulation, we wanted to demonstrate the direct impact of economic systems on living organisms and how these above ground systems impact the growth of the inhabitants below, witnessed in the behaviour of the microorganisms as they respond to fluctuations in nutrient exchange, bacterial growth and fungal relationships.
For many people, speculative financial markets and economic systems remain at a distance, cloaked in abstraction. Equally, many people exist without much consideration for what lies beneath their feet, invisible from the surface.
Above, So Below demonstrates the real impact of these systems on the soil and in doing so, questions the choices that we make as individuals and as a society, and how they directly impact the more-than-human world.
Through bringing awareness to these entanglements, we are encouraged to question our connection with more-than-human worlds and how we might engage, communicate and support them. Without listening, there is no conversation and without conversation there is no partnership. We need to include voices beyond our own and shift our connection to the natural world from one of resource to relationship.
One of the principle barriers to human and non-human relationships is the lack of coherence we have when we engage with the more-than-human world. We often take our personal chaos into these spaces and lack true presence as we are distracted by our internal monologues. As Above, So Below, aims to bring awareness to the intimate entanglements between human and more-than human worlds and through immersion and interaction, encourage presence and connection.
We're currently developing a web app called Geomantra, which is a sonic meditation device designed to cultivate a state of cohesion and resonance that supports the practice of deep listening with the soil and its inhabitants.
The expansion of agro-industrial technologies and new forms of colonialism represented by GM monoculture crops, genetic extractivism, seed privatisation, industrial fertilisers and agricultural chemicals, are all disruptors to the biochemical language of the soil and the ability for microbes, fungi, plants, and animals to communicate, relate, respond, and adapt.
When these systems are healthy, they are in a state of harmonious resonance - catabolic and anabolic processes are relatively balanced - and these organisms are able to communicate effectively. When they are unhealthy, they respond chaotically, creating dissonance, greater entropy and a breakdown of these communication pathways.
We wanted to convey this dynamic through the soundscape for the installation, which uses biodata and field recordings of plants and subterranean recordings of the soil, with organic frequencies that support living systems such as the Schumann resonance of Earth, and granular synthesis for the microorganisms in the soil simulation. The audience will be able to sense fluctuations in the harmony and disharmony of the environment through sound as well as the visuals of the simulation.
As Above, So Below underscores how speculative financial phenomena and organic processes in the soil share a surprising yet consequential bond. We feed live market data into an adapted CENTURY model—commonly used to forecast land-use scenarios and nutrient flows—to illustrate how investing decisions and profit-driven logic can reshape microbial balances, pH levels, and protozoan activity beneath our feet. This project challenges the myth of a ‘neutral’ simulation: our code and data structures, even within scientific models, inevitably carry cultural and economic biases. By weaving the market’s fluctuations into a soil-focused framework, we expose how computational tools, far from being apolitical, can reinforce or subvert existing power structures—leading us to ask who truly benefits when nature’s complexity is reduced to an algorithmic forecast.
How does As Above, So Below represent the processes going on in the soil?
Rather than offering a simple visual metaphor, we rely on an algorithm that portrays the changing conditions of soil ecology—its microbial ties, nutrient transfers, and shifts in pH. We started with CENTURY’s core methods for modelling organic matter and decomposer cycles, then added extra components for protozoa behavior and fungal networks. Visitors stand over a soil universe displayed at their feet, where each surge of financial data triggers fresh disturbances: chemical waves, changes in microbial counts, or sudden variations in soil acidity. By weaving these elements together, As Above, So Below shows soil not as a static layer of dirt, but as a responsive system shaped by economic forces—yet still capable of reorganising itself through natural resilience and mindful human intervention.
Our soil model is partly governed by data-driven code—such as real-time updates that adjust fungal growth or bacterial decline. Yet, it also incorporates emergent behaviours: organic networks respond chaotically under stress or sudden input. In short, we’ve programmed certain rules (e.g., thresholds for chemical saturation or microbial resilience), but the resulting ‘dance’ of organisms remains unpredictable. Viewers’ interactions and shifting external inputs determine whether the system moves towards renewal or further degradation, reminding us that living ecologies are never fully under our control.
We often imagine our impact on the land as direct and visible—using tractors, chemicals, or seeds. Yet towering above those actions are speculative financial markets, whose trades and sudden shifts can ripple through entire ecosystems. By feeding market data into a soil simulation, As Above, So Below shows how economic choices—far removed from the farm—can change microbial balance, pH levels, and biodiversity in ways we don’t usually see.
To grasp this hidden chain of cause and effect, we need imaginative narratives—like interactive art or speculative fiction—that give shape to how capital flows become chemical imbalances in the soil. These creative spaces shine a light on the fact that high finance isn’t some distant, abstract force. Instead, it weaves through fungal threads and microbial loops, altering the living Earth in complex, often invisible ways.
Semantica is artist duo Jemma Foster and Camilla French, whose work explores fragile ecologies and interspecies communication through emerging technologies.Their practice incorporates biodata, sound, film, generative art and sculptural works. Collaborating with engineers, biologists and musicians to examine ways of sensing and co-creating with more-than-human worlds, they create large-scale interactive installations. They have produced projects about human and plant mythology, planetary processes, the soil microbiome, industrial agriculture and altered states of consciousness.
Juan Cortés is a Colombian electronic artist. His works take on multiple forms such as installation works, recordings, and concert pieces. Cortés is interested in investigative and interdisciplinary processes and the connections between art, science and pedagogical processes.