Art meets AI to reshape tomorrow’s food system

With the support of the EU, artists, scientists and food companies are working together to find fresh and creative ways to make our food systems greener and more efficient.

go through Hannah Docter-Loeb

New media artist Helena Nikonole is taking sound art to an unusual place – a hydroponic plant farm based on the city. She played different urban sounds with a group of scientists, and played different roles with plants growing in the water. The goal is to determine how this affects their growth.

According to the European Environment Agency, at least 20% of European urban residents in Europe are exposed to long-term noise levels, which may be harmful to their health.

But what about the natural environment? Noise pollution also appears to affect animals and even plants. However, it is difficult to determine exactly what effect is, or to know which specific sounds have adverse effects.

Harmony growth

Nikonole, along with scientists at Mendel University in Brno, created an AI-powered system that exposes plants to different sound patterns and monitors their responses.

“We are looking at how different sounds affect plants,” said Nikonole, based in Berlin and Istanbul. The goal is to understand the relationship between sound and plant growth and use AI to recreate the best sound sequence of plants.

“This is an AI symphony created for plants and a model of future urban agricultural practices,” she said.

Her acoustic agriculture project is part of an EU-funded extensive research program called Hunger Ecology, which began in 2022. It brings together companies, artists and researchers from seven EU countries.

Their work has been blending many different disciplines in 20 different AI-driven projects until early 2026, aiming to build a more sustainable and ethical food system. This is in line with the EU’s vision for a future food system in the 2030 food policy.

Art, science and food

The Hungry Environment is part of a broader EU initiative called S+T+ Art (Science, Technology and Art).

Its basic idea is to encourage artists to work with scientists to promote art-driven innovation. In this case, in the food field.

“We consider artists to be researchers, inventors and primitive types of nature. But they are often overlooked in the process of sustainable innovation,” said Rodolfo Groenewoud Van Vliet, co-founder and director of the Dutch Research and Development Organization, specializing in art-driven innovation.

As cities grow and seek to become greener and more sustainable, fresh thinking is needed in our production and consumption of food. One way to spark this innovation is to bring artists like Nikonole into the process.

While collaboration between art and science is nothing new, powerful new elements are now shaping these interactions: AI.

“AI is becoming a tool that creative people can use to provide results that were not possible before,” said Dr. Pavel SMRZ, associate professor at Brno Polytechnic University and coordinator of the Hungry Ecological Initiative.

The research team is taking a broad approach to food systems, exploring every stage from farming to consumption and waste management.

“It really covers everything – from the ground growth to how we deal with leftovers,” Groenewoud van Vliet said.

From new recipes to new marketing

While acoustic agriculture teams are exploring how cities and agriculture coexist with the support of sound harmonics, other hungry ecological researchers are targeting different parts of the food system.

An example is the MVPXFFF Food Computer, a prototype computer that uses AI to generate recipes based on the expected harvest of so-called “urban food forests” and alternative sources of proteins produced locally, such as nuts or algae.

The aim is to encourage grain production in urban areas and help consumers choose fresh and available agricultural products throughout the year.

Another creative perspective comes from Vegetable Vendetta, which reimagines how we sell vegetables. Led by Dutch artist Jeroen van der, the team developed a device that uses algorithms to generate luxury advertising for everyday vegetables, such as high-end brands of potatoes and broccoli.

“Art can elicit all kinds of new ideas about food and how we promote it,” Van Der said most.

The idea is to help small farmers compete with big brands by giving them a compelling AI-generating visual effect.

“Artificial intelligence can break the boundaries of advertising possible,” Van Der said. “These technologies allow more people to create exciting images and content around healthy food.”

Big brand attraction

With less than a year left, many innovations and prototypes have been tested or used.

“We are working directly with 10 companies – real, tangible partners, and we can make a difference,” Groenewoud Van Vliet said.

Vegetable Vendetta, for example, has been touring throughout the museum, most recently in Tallinn, Estonia. But agricultural companies are also testing it to see if this creative marketing, powered by AI, can increase the appeal of their products.

“It opens up new advertising opportunities for organizations without flashy campaign budgets,” Van der Most said. “In the future, this could give small producers the same marketing capabilities as global brands.”

The direction of the future

According to Groenewoud Van Vliet, one of the most exciting results of the project is the diversity of future directions it helps discover.

Unlike traditional collaborations that usually aim to provide a single innovation or product, the hungry ecology aims to continue to create new possibilities.

“We are building an electric motor that keeps generating fresh ideas, prototypes and innovations,” he said.

Artists involved in the project believe that this synergy between art and science is crucial for future development.

As Nikonole said, “I think the privilege of being a liar as an artist means we can handle things from many different perspectives.”

The research in this article is funded by the EU’s Horizon Program. The views of respondents do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.

This article was originally published in the European Journal of Research and Innovation.

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