Victoria Vesna

Developed during the current solar maximum, [SUN]Flower Plasma is an evolving media installation and participatory performance that brings together the complexity of the plasma machine and the intelligence of the sunflower, bridging the micro and the macro. At its centre is the sun, which drives both the heliotropic movement of sunflowers, turning each day to follow the light, and Alfvén waves, which carry energy along magnetic field lines in plasma and are key to understanding space weather. The project grew from years of dialogue between Vesna and plasma physicist Walter Gekelman, who built one of the largest basic plasma machines in the world, the Large Plasma Device at UCLA, and recorded Alfvén waves there. With biomedical engineer Haley Marks, Vesna imaged sunflower parts under the microscope, revealing structures that strikingly resemble the sun. These materials, together with solar wind data from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and natural recordings, are translated into sound, light and vibration, with a sound mix by Kevin Ramsay at Harvestworks. The work premiered in 2024 on Governors Island, New York, and was nominated for the 2025 S+T+ARTS Prize. Reflecting on how solar, biological and social forms of energy intertwine, it invites ‘collective attunement to the shared frequencies of living and stellar matter.’