A series that I’m working on, titled Future Artifacts, is a body of work combining handbuilt ceramics and objects then taking site photographs of those objects in nature. Afterwards, AI generated textual responses are inputted to add a contextual element. AI prompts are deliberately misleading in regards to the images taken of “real” nature. 

The project interrogates perception, deception, and belief at the boundary of nature and technology. By using “artificial objects” photographed in “real” environments, then presented to artificial intelligence with artificial context, they reveal how easily viewers (and models) infer and misinfer meaning. AI generated text is utilized to probe how we construct belief from images. 

The creatures I create – shells, cactus forms, anemone like shapes, beetles etc. – are photographed in situ (beach, desert, garden, campgrounds etc.) under natural light so they read as plausible wildlife encounters.  The photographs are then uploaded to an AI assistant with intentionally misleading natural history style prompts – (“Found this at Manhattan Beach—what is it?”). Responses from AI confidently misidentify, elaborate, and rationalize.

My project re-inhabits conservation by  re-shaping what we accept as “real”. The series also preserves a sense of play and wonder. My aim is not to “expose” AI alone, but to reflect on our own readiness to believe images, headlines, and bespoke explanations—encouraging people to look closer at their natural world and their informational world.

Trevor Coopersmith

eco-conspiracies exhibition at the GALLERIES on DOWNING
420 North Downing Street, Denver Colorado 80218
DATES: March 1 – April 30, 2026
An immersive installation sharing stories of creative restoration work by practitioners within the Creature Conserve community interspersed with local artists’ multi-disciplinary approaches of re-inhabiting conservation.

CON: with
SPIRE: to Breathe

The idea of eco–conspiracies grows from the idea that we breathe together with plants. As the foundation of ecological webs, native and bioregional appropriate plants serve to restore habitats, especially through the tight urban spaces where most of us dwell. Opening space for contemplative practice, we invite visitors to slow down and breathe with surrounding plants in our spheres, practice creative acts of sci/art conservation, and share seeds and their stories with neighbors to pass regenerative acts forward.

Using Art to Bring Wildlife Conservation Closer to Home
Broadening perceptions of ‘home’ to include outdoors spheres around our lived-in structures, we encourage deepened relationships with non-human species who dwell with us in the urban corridors we call home, thinking of ways we may increase connectivity across Denver’s communities.