SYMBIOSIA
Real time uncovering the symbiotic relationship between trees and their environment
In collaboration with professor Stefano Mancuso
we created an artwork that uncovers the symbiotic
relationship of trees and their communication
in times of climate change
In the garden of the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, 12 sensors were connected to 2 trees, measuring various parameters like moist levels, temperature, CO2 and light.
Based on this data an algorithm created a tree ring every second instead of every year.
Giving nature a visual voice in times of climate change.
Symbiosia' in collaboration with scientist Stefano Mancuso, was the opening work of the exhibition Trees in July 2019 at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris.
'Symbiosia' is a real-time data installation that gave two trees in the iconic garden of Fondation Cartier a visual voice about climate change. The work explores the relationship of the trees with the visitors, the environment, and each other.
It is a collaboration between artist Thijs Biersteker and botanist and scientist Stefano Mancuso and his International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology in Florence. Mancuso is a pioneer of plant neurobiology and an advocate of the concept of plant intelligence and provided the scientific basis for the artwork.
“‘Working with Thijs Biersteker was an inspiring experience. Thijs is the kind of person you dream to find when you want to transpose a scientific idea into an artistic event.”
Biersteker and Mancuso have developed a calculative data driven system that estimates the real time impact that climate change has on the nature of Paris, generating a tree ring every second, instead of every year. The artwork captures the immediate effects of daily events, such as traffic congestion leading to an increase in CO2 levels, and droughts caused by rising summer temperatures.
Trees document their lives through their annual growth rings hidden behind their bark. The thickness and shape of the rings reveal environmental changes and disease, forest fires, droughts and pollution levels throughout the tree’s life
Data explanation to read the artwork
Digital roots crawling between the two trees and their branches contain a series of 12 sensors to measure fluctuations in the trees photosynthesis, the air quality and chemical aircompounds, producing the datavisualization in the shape of tree rings. The short and long term impact of climate change can be deciphered in the work, which takes into account recent discoveries about root communication and the idea of plant memory.
Commissioned by
Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain
Collaboration
Stefano Mancuso
Curators
Hervé Chandès, Bruce Albert,Isabelle Gaudefroy, Helene Kelmachter
Head of studio
Sophie de Krom
Technical design
Boompje studio
With special thanks to
Decent Lab, Kvadrat , Kees Plattel , Casper van der Meer, Matrix Metaalbewerking, End of Time
Data from the installation in the garden of the Fondation Cartier
The making off documentary
Research and
collaboration
Collaboration
Stefano Mancuso
Partner
Delft Technical University
International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology
Press
and
Awards
