Seeding the intersection of agriculture and activism, “Art Farm” opens at the Doris McCarthy Gallery at the University of Toronto Scarborough. At the invitation of curator Amish Morrell, artist Shannon Gerard and the Outdoor School and Futurefarmers collectives, “model new—and old—ways of land stewardship.” The latter presents documentation of Soil Procession: A Movement of Soil from the Country to the City (2015, image), a parade transporting soil from 50 Oslo-area farms to a communal bakehouse and grain field.

Canadian software artist Sarah Friend shares a batch of freshly minted Memoryforms (2024), the collaborative on-chain memorial for her NFT Lifeforms (2021) that invites past carers to inscribe a message. Widely celebrated as one of the more interesting social experiments in the Web3 space, token holders had 90 days to keep their NFT entity alive by giving it away to another carer. As one owner of several (now dead) Lifeforms laments: “I wish I had set calendar notifications to take better care of my pack.”

Advocating for ecological sustainability and solidarity, “Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice” opens at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Guest curators Glenn Kaino and Mika Yoshitake present newly commissioned works from Cannupa Hanska Luger, Garnett Puett, Lan Tuazon, Ron Finley, and Mel Chin that “deconstruct polarized political attitudes surrounding climate justice.” Twenty international artists including Ryoji Ikeda (image: point of no return, 2018), ikkibawiKrrr, and Xin Liu also contribute.

Exploring temperature and information, Agustina Woodgate’s “More Heat Than Light” opens at Stroom Den Haag (NL). Drawing on three years of research at QuTech, the Argentinian artist activates materials and variables from quantum communication—diamonds, lenses, time, and temperature. Featured works include Future Star (2024), a thermal printer that outputs a climate log, and Radiations (2024, image), an array of infrared lamps and sensors with poems etched on them.

After honouring her with the 5th DAM Digital Art Award (nomination via critic Domenico Quaranta), DAM Projects Berlin celebrates American artist Rebecca Allen with a solo show. An early innovator of CGI and computer animation—the 1974 punchcard-generated sequence Girl Lifts Skirt (image) is considered one of the first pieces of feminist computer art—Allen is renowned for foregrounding “the body within technology” and collaborating with fellow icons Twyla Tharp, David Byrne, Kraftwerk, and Nam June Paik.

Chia Amisola’s desktop and browser performance I Miss Every Sound I’ve Ever Heard, Does Anyone Feel The Same? (2024) takes over the window display of Künstlerhaus Bethanian, tantalizing Berliners with a dreamy net art narrative on sound, memory, and the body. Part of the ongoing Robert-Seidel-curated screening series “Phantom Horizons,” the Filipino internet artist’s hypertext choreography delves into the hidden layers of the Web, revealing its preset configurations and intimate connections within its digital infrastructure.

Sarah Ancelle Schönfeld presents a new experimental photo series in her solo exhibition “Labor Lab” at Schering Stiftung’s Project Space in Berlin. By dropping solvents of drugs and hormones—endogenous substances such as breast milk, pharmacological substances such as the contraceptive pill—on pre-exposed negatives, the German artist creates forms that “cast an aesthetic spell,” highlighting the complexi issues surrounding the control mechanisms of female reproduction.

“Half the parts, half the cost, and 95% less production tools mean America can mass-produce whole batteries of Barracuda at a scale that can beat China,” gloats Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey on X. Announcing his autonomous cruise missile system Barracuda-M with a slick cel-shaded video, the VR-inventor-turned-arms-dealer talks up the design on social media. While shiny Pentagon weapons are nothing new, Luckey notably (and unscrupulously) brings Silicon Valley know-how to weapons manufacturing.

A new “living” artwork by Franco-German collective Troika opens at the University of Cambridge, exploring the idea of “ecological simulacra” and how, increasingly, the virtual informs the real. Third Nature (2024) consists of 15 trees planted in a grid pattern typically associated with software plug-ins and material libraries for digital landscape generation. “We were intrigued with how technological tools are shaping the way we perceive, depict, and construct our environment and nature.”

German visual artist and experimental filmmaker Robert Seidel premieres a new AV performance, sediments (2024), at Berlin’s Alte Münze, animating a 20-meter LED wall with his signature abstract gestures and painterly motion. Created using TouchDesigner and accompanied by a cinematic soundscape featuring Seidel’s recorded improvisations for prepared piano, the work wrangles with (and offers respite from) constant information overload and the loss of shared experiences in an era of hyper-atomization.