Engineered

Nature

2017 - 2023

"ENGINEERED NATURE" (2017-2023) represents the third evolution in WOLFS+JUNG's sustained exploration of synthetic biology as a cultural artefact, following their seminal works "NATURE V2.01" (2006-2009) and "IMPOSSIBLE TREES" (2014-2017).

Transcending conventional boundaries of the natural, these creations probe the ethical limits of biological manipulation through prospective designs whose precise geometry echoes radical modernist formal explorations. The deliberate symmetry and mathematical perfection of these transformed trees serve as a visual manifesto—simultaneously beautiful and unsettling—forcing contemplation of the aesthetics and ethics demanded by our age of synthetic biology.

As scientific breakthroughs like "Synthia" blur the line between created and evolved life, WOLFS+JUNG's work becomes increasingly urgent. It reminds us of the profound responsibilities carried by creators who now possess the capacity to redefine life itself and reconfigure our fundamental concept of nature.

The artists navigate a complex duality: advancing aesthetic frontiers and challenging established paradigms while questioning the long-term social and environmental implications of unbridled technological intervention. Their work crystallises the essential dilemma of our era—"To make or not to make"—amid technological acceleration and ecological precarity.

When does a tree stop being a tree? This deceptively simple question reverberates through WOLFS+JUNG's transformed landscapes, inviting us into a critical dialogue about the future we are designing.