– Welcome to join us at Domaine départemental de Chamarande April 26 at 18h/6pm. (We meet at the “Orangerie” or write us on “info (at) visionforum.eu” if you have further questions.)
Do Trees Dream of CO2 is a collective Franco-Swedish collaboration. The team has been developing technology and artistic expressions to facilitate interspecies dialogues between humans and trees for two years. On October 18, they will present their work Domaine départemental de Chamarande where Karine Bonneval has a large exhibibition. The event offers an opportunity for the audience to get a glimpse of the technical, scientific and artistic developments that the projects has made through a performance.
Background
Humans have traditionally ignored plants’ ability to solve problems. Biology has recently acquired important knowledge about plants and their perception and problem solving skills. We gradually learn more about how plants react when the surroundings world changes and what they do in order to enhance their chances of survival. Mankind has also been relatively blind to many of the similarities that we share with the vegetal life around us. But since we share the same planet and the same evolutionary past, we also share a lot of biochemistry. In biology much attention has recently been given to the agency of plants – how they sense the world and deal with changes in their environment. In Do Trees Dream of CO2, artists and researchers from Sweden and France investigate what art can learn from this new and exciting research and how it can be used to create new and visionary art.
Concept and Technology
In the working process of Do Trees Dream of CO2 the team focus primarily on trees’ and their inner signalling. The artists use the PepiPIAF technology to measure changes in the trees’ inner. This non-invasive technology is attached to a branch of a tree. It measures the changes in pressure and temperature inside the actual tree, based on how sap moves. It shows how a tree adapts itself to changes of temperature, season, and daily rhythm. From these measurements the team can derive information about how the tree grows and to a certain degree how it adapts to outside changes. You can find more info about the PepiPIAF here. (In French only.) The data from PepiPIAF is then treated by the EEGsynth to be used artistically.
The Performances
In Do Trees Dream of CO2, the artists focus on making performances for smaller groups of visitors (6-8 people at the time.) They present the work in the evening or at night. Their main focus is on the nocturnal life of plants. Researchers have learned that they rest at night, in similar way that humans and animals do. But do they also dream? What is their nocturnal existence like? Which similarities and differences can we find between them and us? In the performances the audience is invited to spend extended time with a unique tree and experience art based on that tree’s inner processes. The performances offer a dedicated moment to the inner life of a specific tree, entangled with the specific life rhythm of one human being.
Do Trees Dream of CO2 is supported by Kulturbryggan, Helge Ax:son Johnsons stiftelse, Svenska kulturfonden (Helsinki) and Längmanska kulturfonden.