37: terra0—What the "(Autonomous) Forest" Wants with Peter Bauman

Episode page and full transcript: lerandom.art/episodes/terra0-what-the-autonomo…

In this special episode, host Peter Bauman (Monk Antony, Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with Paul Seidler (lerandom.art/subjects/paul-seidler) and Paul Kolling (lerandom.art/subjects/paul-kolling) from art collective terra0 about their project Autonomous Forest (2025)⁠ (terra0.org). They cover the nearly decade-long journey from ⁠white paper (2016)⁠ (terra0.org/assets/pdf/terra0_white_paper_2016.…) as university students to the project's NFT launch in December 2025.

The collective shares how the original idea in the white paper mutated with projects like Flowertokens, Premna Deamon and now Autonomous Forest.

They also cover why working through German law and smart contracts creates better frameworks than pure speculation, how the project evolved from startup pitches to nonprofit governance, and what it means to build living systems that exist outside economic (and human) exploitation.

Monday's Le Random Editorial on "Standout Artwork of 2025" (lerandom.art/editorial/standout-artwork-of-2025)

Thursday's Le Random Editorial: "Zero 10 Part 1: Beeple Casts a Spell" by Kevin Buist (lerandom.art/editorial/zero-10-part-1-beeple-c…)

Also in this episode: Christiane Paul (lerandom.art/subjects/christiane-paul), Holly Herndon (lerandom.art/subjects/holly-herndon), Mat Dryhurst (lerandom.art/subjects/mat-dryhurst), Philip Galanter (lerandom.art/subjects/philip-galanter), Sasha Stiles (lerandom.art/subjects/sasha-stiles), Simon Denny (lerandom.art/subjects/simon-denny), Sol LeWitt (lerandom.art/subjects/sol-lewitt)

Listen next: Ep. 44, Figure31—Discussing and Demonstrating DEL with Peter Bauman (lerandom.art/episodes/figure31-discussing-and-…), Ep. 22, Protocol Art & Blockchain Formalism—Mitchell F Chan, Ania Catherine, Dejha Ti, matto & maltefr (lerandom.art/episodes/protocol-art-and-blockch…)

Chapters: 📖

00:00 Introduction
09:59 How did earlier projects lead here?
17:00 Why remove ecosystems from the market?
21:58 Why do blockchains matter here?
26:01 Is it repeatable? Where does AI fit?
28:59 Are corporations slow AIs?
32:02 Who can speak for rivers and forests?
38:02 What are the roots of protocol art?
40:59 How do artists build worlds?
48:58 What are Guattari's Three Ecologies?