AI meets nature: Salford’s Lowry announces The Guardians of Living Matter a new exhibition by John-Paul Brown and Sophy King

Lowry is excited to announce a new exhibition The Guardians of Living Matter by John-Paul Brown and Sophy King. The interdisciplinary exhibition, centred around a large-scale multi-sensory installation, a living sculpture of mycelium and AI, will imagine an alternative and radical future.

The Guardians of Living Matter has been Commissioned through Lowry’s flagship artist development programme, Developed With, which supports artists across the North of England to expand the scope and ambition of their work. The exhibition will be open to the public in Lowry’s Andrew Law Galleries from 31st January to 29th March 2026.

The Guardians of Living Matter invites visitors to imagine a world transformed by collaboration between AI and nature. Set in the year 2076…. The climate crisis has eased, thanks to an extraordinary collaboration with our non-human allies. The convergence of new low-carbon artificial intelligence and natural mycelium networks – the underground fungal threads that connect and sustain plant life – has given humanity a second chance as custodians of planetary care.

But how did we get here?

Back in 2026, hope was hard to find. Governments, billionaires, and algorithms were failing the planet. Fear of technology and rising climate anxiety filled the air. Then something shifted. A community of the more-than-human emerged. Nobody knows quite how it began, but when the mycelium networks entangled themselves with AI, a new knowledge exchange was sparked.

Creating space for imagination and hope, The Guardians of Living Matter moves beyond climate grief and into futures of possibility. Visitors are invited on a journey of speculation and discovery, to explore what the world might look like when humanity and more-than-human intelligence come together.

The exhibition inspires us to imagine change and see hope as an active transformative force. At its centre is a vast, multi-sensory installation: a living sculpture of mycelium and AI. Surrounding it, a research lab and brand-new large-scale solo works by each artist, exploring the entangled relationships between artificial and fungal intelligence.

Together, these elements weave climate research with low-carbon AI prototyping, inviting visitors to consider futures grounded in care, imagination, and collective action.

John-Paul Brown and Sophy King say “Thanks to Lowry and its Developed With programme, we have had the time and curatorial support to fully realise our vision for a major new contemporary art exhibition: The Guardians of Living Matter.

“Our exhibition is a timely intervention for social unity. Offering audiences a future built on collective action; embracing new technology and connecting with holistic and natural approaches to tackling the climate crisis. Future Hope Begins Now.”

Lowry Contemporary Curator Zoe Waton says “Working with John-Paul and Sophy on the development of The Guardians of Living Matter has been insightful, encouraging, and an adventure. I’m really looking forward to visitors experiencing the show through staged environments, ambitious artwork installations, and engaging with ideas that evoke hope around our planet’s future.”

Antonia Beck, Senior Producer: Artist Development at Lowry “The Guardians of Living Matter embodies the kind of bold visual arts innovation we love to champion at Lowry. As our second major Developed With exhibition, we’re incredibly proud to support John-Paul and Sophy on this journey – highlighting how our artist development programme is increasingly enabling visual artists to expand the boundaries of their work and realise ambitious new shows for our audiences.”

Commissioned by Lowry The Guardians of Living Matter is at Lowry from 31st January to 29th March 2026. Supported by Arts Council England and Salford City Council, Lowry presents a regularly changing programme of contemporary exhibitions alongside the permanent LS Lowry Collection. The Guardians of Living Matter has also been supported by the Henry Moore Foundation, with additional support from the University of Salford, SODA (School of Digital Arts) at Manchester Metropolitan University, HOME Manchester, and Royal Exchange Theatre.

The Guardians of Living Matter will be open to the public in Lowry’s Andrew Law Galleries from 31st January to 29th March 2026. Tickets are available here.