“Tech and nature are less disparate than most people think. They exist in ecosystems where lifecycles, waste, creation and evolution are essential qualities. Tech can amplify, lift and assist in nature’s process.”

It was this realization that prompted noted VR artist Estella Tse to create an immersive experience for the Netherlands Tech Pavilion at CES. The ‘Sustainable Garden’ is an interactive virtual art landscape that combines elements of tech and nature to show the parallels between the startups and nature’s ecosystem, including the flow of data, energy, sensory systems and the evolution that leads to new ways of creating and existing.

“To work with Mother Nature, we need to take part in a public discourse that includes collaborative, diverse and inclusive voices. It’s how we’ll create a more harmonious future together”, says Tse, who has been artist-in-residence with Google, Adobe, and Cartoon Network Studios.

The virtual landscape captures the innovative spirit of the Netherlands that has shaped the country for centuries. Visitors are invited to step into the garden themselves and leave their suggestions to solve global challenges with the Netherlands.

The immersive experience of the ‘Sustainable Garden’ is inspired by three female botanical painters from the Dutch Golden Age — Maria Sibylla Merian, Rachel Ruysch and Maria van Oosterwijck. Tse: “ I recently learned about incredible women artists from the Dutch Golden Age, erased and forgotten from history. I want to honor their botanical illustration work, also because they were women who worked with paints and were keen observers and students of science. I personally admire how some women artists of the time taught each other and learned from each other’s work. This is all about community, growing together, and lifting each other.”

Tse took elements of their still-life paintings and incorporated them into the “Sustainable Garden” VR painting, following the principles of classic Dutch garden designs. The Keukenhof style landscape visually emphasizing remarkable inventions that have come from the Netherlands. The flower pattern also comes back in the design of the Netherlands pavilion, making virtual reality a reality.