Data Garden can be seen simultaneously an art installation and scientific proof-of-concept.

Technically, it features plants and synthetic DNA encoded with digital data. The encoding process involves converting digital data (digital files) into a biological format, DNA, using ATGC rather than binary.

Conceptually, it continues my vision of working with nature to alleviate the threat of 'data warming'. The Data Garden invites visitors to experience a new materiality around data, explore a world in which data storage is truly green, and exists as an accessible public resource that is shareable within communities.

While my initial research for Grow Your Own Cloud began as a speculative examination of possible data futures, the Data Garden demonstrates a technical proof-of-concept based on this speculation.

In this manner, the current state of the art informs the design and creativity process, while the art itself seeks to push the boundaries of what the science and technology can deliver. 

For the Data Garden, Jeff Nivala, a research scientist at the University of Washington, worked to help develop a novel data decoding pipeline which would allow the visitors to the Data Garden to effectively download data from the organisms in the installation. This introduces technologies such as genetic sequencers to the general public, technologies which exist on long time horizons and are some way away from general use. 

From a design perspective, the goal was to create a user-friendly way to interact with these new tools and technologies, making the experience accessible to people of all backgrounds. The final installation encapsulates important concepts related to regenerative design principles: offering an alternative, non-carbon-emitting method to store data, presenting an opportunity for individuals to reclaim ownership of personal data, and fostering a new type of collaboration with nature.

The installation, made from simple, natural materials, emphasizes data as a collective resource, focusing on community rather than individual or global scales. Accompanied by posters and an ethics book, the project provokes responses to key questions, considering ecological ethics by including plants, ecosystems, and the planet.

The goal is to create data infrastructures that are open, available, and promote green spaces, allowing communities to experience communal memories through living organisms. Research focuses on the types of data communities wish to store and the ethical parameters for developing this technology.

By storing data in plant DNA, Data Garden explores carbon-absorbing, public-owned storage, addressing the challenges of biological modification and related intellectual, ethical, and regulatory issues. The project encourages reflection on political and environmental concerns associated with the cloud, leveraging art and design to challenge privatized digital information while promoting unification between people, ecosystems and technology