The Long Fall

The Long Fall / Jiabao Li, Manu Prakash, Will Tallent, Michael Bruner - Photo: Aaron Wharton

The Long Fall

A Descent into the Ocean’s Living Memory

Jiabao Li (CN), Manu Prakash (US), Will Tallent (US), Michael Bruner (US)

The Long Fall explores how microscopic plankton drive Earth’s carbon cycle. The audience embarks on a live audiovisual descent from the White Cliffs of Dover to drifting marine snow. Using data from PlanktonScope and Gravity Machine across 18 expeditions, the performance features a “plankton instrument,” where each touch triggers the fall and sound of a species. Narration is provided by the AI-revived voice of Rachel Carson, revealing plankton’s hidden role in shaping planetary climate.

Language //

EN

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  • Jiabao Li

    Jiabao Li is an artist, professor, and founding director of the Ecocentric Future Lab. Her work explores climate change, interspecies co-creation, humane technology, and perception. In her TED Talk, she examined how technology shapes our reality. Her work has shown at MoMA, Venice Biennale, and SIGGRAPH, and she was named Forbes China 30 Under 30.

  • Will Tallent

    Will Tallent is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, sound designer, and visual artist whose work spans commercial and experimental realms. Rooted in nature’s ambient rhythms, his practice treats sound and art as reflections of lived experience and portals to collective consciousness.

  • Michael Bruner

    Michael Bruner is a media artist, interactive designer, and plankton cultivator fascinated by living systems. From growing plants to making generative video — these systems are full of emergent properties made visible through feedback with self and environment. Connecting these principles into creative processes is central to Michael’s work.

  • Manu Prakash

    Manu Prakash is an Indian-American scientist who is a professor of bioengineering at Stanford University. He is best known for his contributions to the Foldscope and Paperfuge. His work focuses on frugal innovation that makes medicine, computing and microscopy accessible to more people across the world.

Credits

Jiabao Li, Manu Prakash, Will Tallent, Michael Bruner Special thanks: Ben Foster, Rahul Chajwa, Adam Larson

Please note: The program for the Ars Electronica Festival 2025 is still in progress.
We are currently preparing all the information for the website and plan to put the full program online in the coming days – stay tuned!