Sprouter — Growing Futures Through Art, Science, and Technology:
The Sprouter is a living prototype developed by Studio Haseeb Ahmed as part of the Hungry EcoCities program, exploring how art, design, and biotechnology can transform our relationship with food. Combining a network of environmental sensors, a stroboscopic watering system, and an automated timelapse machine, the Sprouter visualizes the invisible process of growth—turning data into light, motion, and narrative.
Housed within a specially constructed black box, the system cultivates sprouts while generating real-time video feeds and data visualizations that reveal how environmental conditions shape life. The project extends beyond technology into culinary and cultural practice, featuring collaborations with chefs, scientists, and designers to make sprouts a familiar and celebrated food.
Through exhibitions, demonstrations, and public discussions, the Sprouter reimagines sustainable cultivation as an aesthetic and educational experience—bridging disciplines to inspire new ways of growing, sensing, and understanding our shared ecological future.
Credits
Developed by Studio Haseeb Ahmed and Sprout Dynamics
Commissioned through Hungry EcoCities, an initiative of IN4Art under the STARTS (Science + Technology + Arts)
program of the European Commission.
Created in collaboration with Sprout Dynamics, with conceptual and technical support from Carlo Ratti Associati.
Culinary collaboration by Chef Brian Kaderavek.
Documentation by Livia Cuveillier.
Event co-led by Iryna Gavrylova and Haseeb Ahmed.
With gratitude to the STARTS and IN4Art teams, participating researchers, designers, and local communities for their contributions to the public showcase and ongoing development of the project.
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The Sprouter is a living prototype developed by Studio Haseeb Ahmed as part of the Hungry EcoCities program, exploring how art, design, and biotechnology can transform our relationship with food. Combining a network of environmental sensors, a stroboscopic watering system, and an automated timelapse machine, the Sprouter visualizes the invisible process of growth—turning data into light, motion, and narrative.
Housed within a specially constructed black box, the system cultivates sprouts while generating real-time video feeds and data visualizations that reveal how environmental conditions shape life. The project extends beyond technology into culinary and cultural practice, featuring collaborations with chefs, scientists, and designers to make sprouts a familiar and celebrated food.
Through exhibitions, demonstrations, and public discussions, the Sprouter reimagines sustainable cultivation as an aesthetic and educational experience—bridging disciplines to inspire new ways of growing, sensing, and understanding our shared ecological future.
Credits
Developed by Studio Haseeb Ahmed and Sprout Dynamics
Commissioned through Hungry EcoCities, an initiative of IN4Art under the STARTS (Science + Technology + Arts)
program of the European Commission.
Created in collaboration with Sprout Dynamics, with conceptual and technical support from Carlo Ratti Associati.
Culinary collaboration by Chef Brian Kaderavek.
Documentation by Livia Cuveillier.
Event co-led by Iryna Gavrylova and Haseeb Ahmed.
With gratitude to the STARTS and IN4Art teams, participating researchers, designers, and local communities for their contributions to the public showcase and ongoing development of the project.
