16.06.25 - 22.06.25 | Drift Lattice at Art Basel Parcours at Fischerstube, Merian Hotel, Basel, CH.
On view from 16 June, 2025 till 22 June, 2025
Visiting hours : 10am - 8pm
The 2025 edition of Parcours is curated for the second time by Stefanie Hessler, Director of Swiss Institute New York. Art Basel’s free public sector is conceived as a curated exhibition that unfolds throughout empty stores and operational shops, a hotel, an underpass, an office building, the river front, and other quotidian spaces in Basel. Hessler’s curatorial concept “Second Nature” focuses on artistic projects that explore the blurry boundaries between nature and artifice, original and repetition, habits and interruptions through the unexpected, including sensory perceptions beyond the visual. Presenting over 20 ambitious, largely new and site-responsive projects by emerging artists alongside influential historic positions, this edition of Parcours is distinctly intergenerational.
“Second Nature” is a term that refers to deeply engrained habits, customs, and rituals. In Parcours, the expression is explored through multivalent interpretations. Several artists question what is perceived as natural, examining apparently unchangeable patterns as well as the supernatural, artificiality, and subverted expectations. A selection of projects focuses on the incessantly proliferating loops of images and information as contemporary rituals shaping attitudes and desires. Various artists explore storytelling throughout the ages and media, from analog and animalistic fables to algorithmically powered narratives shaping nature and culture, or what is considered natural and true. Again others engage spaces charged with the interplay of personal memory and historic narratives. Finally, several projects address the valuation of bodies and life between flesh, commodity, and artifact.
Theo Triantafyllidis’ new work Drift Lattice, an immersive simulation of an underwater ecosystem where marine life and synthetic debris intertwine, is presented by The Breeder, in collaboration with Meredith Rosen Gallery. Aquatic species navigate through masses of seaweed, nets, and plastics, alongside cleanup drones that attempt to restore balance. This evolving digital environment subtly responds to real-time climate and ecological data, reflecting the fragile state of global marine ecosystems. Through this intricate simulation, Drift Lattice questions the boundaries between life and lifelikeness, natural and artificial, prompting viewers to consider the evolving interplay between these forces in an era of ecological uncertainty. The subtle responsiveness of the system to real-world data not only underscores the immediacy of ecological challenges but also serves as a speculative barometer, tracking humanity’s ongoing impact on ocean health.
About the work:
Drift Lattice, 2025
Theo Triantafyllidis
Live Simulation
3X 55” HD Displays (16:27 Aspect Ratio), Speakers, Gaming PC, Internet Connection
Music by Diego Navarro
Octopus Behaviour by Miles Peyton
Edition of 3+2APs
Screen Recording - Development Stills
Drift Lattice invites viewers into a simulation of a vast, swirling underwater ecosystem where marine life and synthetic debris coexist in a complex, evolving environment. Aquatic species - crabs, fishes, and diving birds - move amidst entangled masses of seaweed, fishing nets, and discarded plastics, while autonomous cleanup drones navigate the currents, working to untangle and collect the detritus. The simulation’s dynamic state is continuously influenced by real-time data from global climate monitoring networks and oceanic research programs, mirroring the precarious health of real-world marine ecosystems and emphasizing the urgency of ecological action.
This work continues Theo Triantafyllidis’s exploration of simulated ecosystems, following BugSim (Pheromone Spa) (2022), currently on view at the Whitney Museum's Shifting Landscapes exhibition. In BugSim, a microscopic world unfolds within a glass terrarium, where ants, bees, and other insects work together in a delicately balanced closed system, simulating the cycles necessary for environmental repair. Drift Lattice expands this inquiry to an oceanic scale, exploring resilience and entropy within a synthetic marine environment.
The installation draws on concepts from James Bridle's Ways of Being and Holly Jean Buck’s After Geoengineering, reflecting on the distinct intelligences of human, artificial, and natural systems. By highlighting their interdependencies, the work underscores the necessity for collaboration between these modes of intelligence in addressing ecological challenges. It also touches on Buck’s discussion of large-scale oceanic interventions, such as kelp farms for carbon capture, positioning Drift Lattice as a speculative response to real-world environmental crises.
Through this intricate simulation, Drift Lattice questions the boundaries between life and lifelikeness, natural and artificial, prompting viewers to consider the evolving interplay between these forces in an era of ecological uncertainty. The subtle responsiveness of the system to real-world data not only underscores the immediacy of ecological challenges but also serves as a speculative barometer, tracking humanity’s ongoing impact on ocean health.