Cryptogamic Oracle is a practice-based research project exploring how walking, photography and app-based image compositing can support more-than-human attention in urban space. Developed through moss walks and ecological workshops, the project invites participants to notice cryptogamic life, mosses, lichens, algae and ferns, in relation to the technological and infrastructural systems that shape the city. Rather than treating moss as a sign of nature within the urban environment, the project approaches cryptogams as indicators of dampness, shade, leakage, repair, neglect, maintenance and material design. The app functions as an urban probe, asking participants to photograph organisms, surfaces and infrastructures before recomposing these images through an oracle-like interface. These readings do not provide answers, but generate prompts for reflection, relation and uncertainty. The paper argues that speculative visual methods can help develop ecological attention that is situated, relational and attentive to more-than-human urban conditions.
Crptogamic oracle 2026