Botanicalls opens a new channel of communication between plants and humans, in an effort to promote successful inter-species understanding.

The Botanicalls project is fundamentally about communication between plants and people. We are empowering both by inventing new avenues of interaction. Plants that might otherwise be neglected are given the ability to call and text message people to request assistance. People who are unsure of their ability to effectively care for growing things are given visual and aural clues using common human methods of communication.

Who are we?

Botanicalls is an ongoing collaboration between Rob Faludi, Kate Hartman, and Kati London.

Robert Faludi is a professor in the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and in the Interactive Telecommunications program at NYU. He specializes in behavioral interactions through physical computing and networked objects. Rob is the author of Building Wireless Sensor Networks, with ZigBee, XBee, Arduino and Processing published by O’Reilly Media, 2011. He frequently consults on interactive projects including recent work in entertainment, architecture and toys. He has developed device networking and customer engagement systems for Tendril, a smart energy monitoring start-up. Faludi is currently Collaborative Strategy Leader at Digi International. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired Magazine, Good Morning America, and BBC World among others.

Kate Hartman creates new tools for expression through innovative applications of technology. Her individual and collaborative projects span the fields of wearable computing, mobile telephony, video installation, and conceptual art. Whether it be houseplants that make phone calls or hats that amplify the voices in your head, her work explores the idea of enhancing relationships and illustrating the unseen. Hartman holds a B.A. from Bard College in Film and Electronic Arts and an M.P.S. from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is featured in the recently published book “Fashionable Technology”. She is currently an adjunct faculty member at New York University and teaches courses in soft circuitry and physical computing.

Kati London designs, develops and builds opportunities for interacting with others— whether that be for people and plants, residents of Baghdad and New York City or an international conference of mobile game developers. Her collaborative projects have included: Urban Sonar, You Art Not Here, and Botanicalls. Kati’s projects have been featured in the Come Out & Play Festival, New York; DLD08, O’Reilly’s Etech Conference 2008, and the New York Times. She currently works as Senior Producer for Area/Code Games where she develops games that bridge the digital and the physical.

The original Botanicalls project was also developed in collaboration with Rebecca Bray:

Rebecca Bray is an artist and interactive design director. She was co-founder of Submersible Design, an interactive agency through which she has created interactive media for the American Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution, the Intrepid Museum of Air, Sea and Space, among other clients. Her work focused on environmental issues includes DrinkPeeDrinkPee, an installation and DIY kit recently featured in ArtNews and on the Discovery Channel that explores issues of personal waste and the water cycle, and The Meatrix, the Webby award-winning online film about factory farming.