Free exhibition of 50 AI-generated flowers that reconstruct critically endangered and extinct Sahel flora using image-to-image technology, part of V&A x LDF: Awakenings.
Linda Dounia brings Once Upon A Garden to the V&A South Kensington from Saturday 17 October, running through to Friday 30 October. It's the final chapter of a project that treats AI like a time machine, and it's sitting in the John Lyon's Community Gallery within the museum's Learning Centre on Cromwell Road.
The work is a speculative archive of critically endangered and extinct flora from the Sahel—plants that have left little to no record behind. Dounia uses AI to piece together visual data about flowers that were never properly recorded, working from sparse and fragmented archives. This particular showing presents 50 emergent species of speculative flora made with image-to-image technology, and the way they're presented traces the evolution of generative AI models over time. The resulting flowers end up exposing how these models rely on mediated data and are made possible by machinery built with natural resources.
It's part of V&A x LDF: Awakenings, a series of installations and interventions across the museum for London Design Festival 2026 that looks at how design, craft and technology can inspire new perspectives and bring to light invisible yet interconnected forces. This specific exhibition was curated by Laura Herman and Marc Barto and produced by Nick Murray.
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Entry is free, and it runs from 17 to 30 October at the V&A South Kensington, in the John Lyon's Community Gallery, Learning Centre, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL.
Date
17 October – 30 October
Price
Free
Recommended Age
+14 years
