The Xu Bing Space Art Residency Program, led by internationally acclaimed artist Xu Bing, invites artists worldwide to create work for dedicated art satellites, building dialogue between space technology and contemporary art. Since its launch in February 2024, the program has produced dozens of works by international artists including Joseph Kosuth, Eduardo Kac, and Cao Fei.

Hubbert’s work brings a distinct philosophical dimension to the program: the premise that AI did not emerge in a vacuum but is inextricably tied to the atmospheric, oceanic, and emotional state of the human world that built it. The satellite becomes a site where that entanglement is made visible — a machine looking back at the planet that dreamed it into being.

The visual phenomena in Orbital Dreams are the output of a custom generative engine. For each of the four historical eras depicted, specific planetary and societal data points were fed into the simulation’s state parameters, which mathematically dictate the physics, color, and behavior of the particle systems on screen.

Innovation Vector (Structure) — Patent filings and AI architecture types dictate fundamental geometry. ‘Digital’ triggers rigid grids; ‘Organic’ dissolves them into fluid particle systems with Brownian motion.

Economic Anxiety (Chaos) — The CBOE Volatility Index controls random noise in the coordinate systems, causing grid lines to tremble during periods of market instability.

Atmospheric Breath (Pacing) — CO₂ concentrations from Mauna Loa Observatory control the “respiratory rate” of the central core, accelerating as levels rise.

Knowledge Flow (Density) — Volume of scientific pre-prints and global data traffic controls system conductivity, triggering “Superconductor” states at high flow.

Ocean Vitality (Palette) — NOAA sea surface temperature anomalies shift the color engine between deep cyans (cooler oceans, 1990s) and alarmist reds (overheating oceans, 2020s).

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