NLAnaïs Berck is a tree greffier.
Anais Berck is a pseudonym and stands for a collaboration between people, algorithms and trees. As a collective, they open a space in which human intelligence is explored in company of plant intelligence and artificial intelligence.
By putting the tree and its representations at the center of their works, and by welcoming algorithms not at the service of a commercial objective based on optimization, but at the service of nature, these intelligences create narratives which, of course, speak about trees, but also about classification, methods of standardization, the effects of dominant cultures and histories of colonization. And in an almost spontaneous way, they raise the question of the place and the perspective of the human being. The concept of the tree, for example, that even children can easily indicate in the physical life, is a challenge for programmers in the digital world.
In Anaïs Berck’s work, algorithms come from behind their interface and tell their stories about techniques, people and trees with a ‘naked voice’. The result are Dadaist poetic experiences, which are also instructive.
The work of Anaïs Berck is the result of years of artistic research into algorithms, text and the identity of trees. This research took place in the contexts of the Brussels art organisations Constant, Fo.am, De Pianofabriek; and Algolit, an artistic working group on F/LOSS code and text that meets monthly in Brussels.