A century ago, astronomers believed the seasonal darkening of Mars was due to vegetation, looking for green plants. Science fiction author H.G. Wells imagined Martian flora as blood-red in The War of the Worlds. While these ideas were incorrect, we can now detect polarized light from other worlds, potentially revealing photosynthesis. Goldilocks FLOWERS is a speculative artscience project exploring alien life. Earth has diverse photosynthetic organisms beyond green plants, like red-leafed plants and colorful algae and bacteria. Purple bacteria, for example, absorb solar infrared and visible light. This project imagines the appearance of alien plants. The artist employs AI to speculate on alien flora and fauna, predicting the colors of photosynthesizing organisms under different suns and atmospheric conditions, and animating the outcomes into mesmerizing visual compositions.
