Inhaltspezifische Aktionen

15. September 2025 | Lahn River AI Avatar

Ever heard a river speak? Meet the Lahn, it has a lot to say.

Wann

15.09.2025 ab 14:00 Uhr (Europe/Berlin / UTC200)

Wo

online

Termin zum Kalender hinzufügen

iCal

Talk with the River here

Lahn River Avatar

Towards SYMBIOCRACY Nature’s AI-Avatars: Lahn River

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD A RIVER SPEAK?

This project explored planetary agency by creating an AI-powered interactive Avatar, embodied in a physical sculpture that serves as a voice to the Lahn river in Germany.
 
Science and art duo Danilo Olivaz and Ingvild Syntropia traversed the technically and ethically complex landscape of using artificial intelligence to represent the possible interests of a living ecosystem.
 
The voice-activated sculpture, made from local, natural, and upcycled material, houses a large language model (LLM) which is fed real-time environmental data from sensors in the Lahn’s waters as well as scientific research, and cultural knowledge specific to the Lahn. With sensors installed at the Lahnfenster, the sculpture stands as both a poetic and political gesture.
 
With the invaluable support of Mayowa Osibody (from Aditu Tech), the AI logics of the avatar were assembled together. Furthermore, thanks to Travis Kiplean, Kevin Miniter and Chad Brower (the team behind the online dialogue platform consider.it), the avatar has an online presence at a first-o- its kind custom digital forum for structured collective deliberation between people and the River, around the question of "What are the biggest opportunities for The Lahn's future?"
 
Rooted in the concept of symbiocracy, the project imagines rivers, forests, and other ecosystems as political beings, able to communicate their perceived needs.
 
Building on the success of the precursor Rio Sagrado AI-Avatar, the Lahn Avatar continues to merge art, science, and collective effort. These Avatars offer a blueprint for planetary democracy through meaningful, cross-species dialogue, remembering a future where rivers speak and we listen.
 
Danilo Olivaz and Ingvild Syntropia are current Fellows in the Planetary Scholars & Artists in Residence Program at the Panel on Planetary Thinking, Justus Liebig University.