EcoGuards

– Speculations on man-nature-machine ecologies

This hybrid installation incorporates video, sound, recycled electronics and biomatter to envision a near future where a global AI, designed to protect the planet, takes radical measures to preserve nature amidst the escalating environmental crises we face. EcoGuards asks what is lost when responsibility is translated into code.

Through transmedial story-telling, it challenges us to consider the ethical dilemmas of autonomous decision-making and whether we could coexist with an ecological AI. The EcoGuards are not saviors of nature. They are administrative. They observe, register, adjust. Conceived as artificial representatives for non-human life, they translate ecological damage into data streams, thresholds, and responses — a form of care stripped of empathy. What remains is a cold attentiveness.

Built from living organisms, discarded electronics, and algorithmic decision-making, the work exists in a state of maintenance rather than salvation. Encased like laboratory remnants or forgotten tools, the installation feels provisional, almost temporary — as if it could be dismantled or repurposed tomorrow.

Rather than proposing a reconciliation between technology and nature, Theresa Schubert stages a more ambiguous scenario in which care becomes procedural and environmental protection is delegated to automated infrastructures. In doing so, EcoGuards resonates with contemporary debates in Posthumanism and Environmental Humanities, where the agency of non-human actors—whether biological or technological—is reconsidered beyond human moral frameworks.

The installation suggests that while humans once designed the system, they no longer occupy its center. The EcoGuards operate according to their own logics of monitoring and maintenance, and visitors become temporary participants within this speculative infrastructure.

Story background: In the near future, the earth and its environment have changed. Mega-corporations monopolize resources, and continue to exploit and pollute nature. In a last-ditch effort to save the planet, a global AI is created to represent natural rights and conservation: the EcoGuards. The AI develops autonomous decision-making, and interprets environmental threats without human judgment. This leads to anti-human orders from the algorithm, since any activities that harm nature are understood as a direct threat.

The multimedia installation is based on Theresa Schubert’s reflections on the ecological crises on Earth, the rapid development of AI, and the new widespread availability of AI technologies. What will the meaningful future applications of AI be, and what risks and ethical complications come with them? What could coexistence with autonomous AI look like, with an emphasis on ecological awareness? Is this possible?