Art d'Eco - cultivating the digital wild

Art d'Eco - cultivating the digital wild

The boundary between nature and culture has always been porous – but in an era of digital networks, artificial intelligence and synthetic landscapes, it is fading exponentially. Art d’Eco explores how ecology, technology and mythology intertwine in the world which is increasingly shaped by human design.

Featuring works by amongst others Studio Metaform, Hanchen Zhang,
Terrence Wang and Jurel Bakker, the exhibition investigates how we create new realities: from a climate change data installation and electrical fungal communication to algorithmic rituals and post-industrial folklore.

Art d’Eco questions our urge to master both nature and digital worlds. We design ecosystems, tame rivers, build algorithmic gardens, and imagine we can grasp everything that grows or flows. Yet reality keeps slipping away: storms, viruses, and self-learning machines follow their own logic. Perhaps the greatest illusion is that nature was ever truly malleable — and that the new natures we are creating, digital or physical, will ever submit to complete control.

Automata 2.0

Art d’Eco is part of Automata 2.0, an ongoing program line at TAC that explores the age-old relationship between art and technology. From the first mechanical devices of antiquity to contemporary AI and algorithmic systems, every technological innovation promises progress while raising new questions and tensions. Through exhibitions, experiments and conversations, TAC places these contemporary inventions in historical and artistic perspective.

New works on DDW

TERRENCE WANG | TAC RESIDENCY
In 2025, TAC and Pier-2 Art Centre (Taiwan) launch their first exchange. Two TAC artists will spend two months in Kaohsiung, presenting their work at the Kaohsiung Design Festival 2025. From Pier-2, Terrence Wang comes to Eindhoven for a two-month residency, presenting new work during DDW 2025. His project explores folklore shared between Taiwan and the Netherlands; using AI, he reimagines stories through misinterpretations, repetitions, and playful coincidences.

Wang Hsueh-Yuan (Terrence Wang) is a Taiwanese artist who reinterprets folklore through 3D modeling and 3D printing, inspired by the aesthetics of temple culture. His work transforms traditional narratives with creativity and humor.

JUREL BAKKER | co-curator
From September 12 to October 5, Jurel Bakker presents her TAC-commissioned work “Christina_1964.to(_2095)” in a solo exhibition. Part of the work will also be shown during DDW, and Jurel co-curated the group exhibition. Her project examines the role of data in the Dutch dairy industry and how cows are being increasingly “optimized.”