Bokträd, 2014
Video with sound, 1920 x 1080p HD
Duration: 00:05:12
Artwork featured in Branching Out, Trees as Art exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum
"Robert interprets bioelectrical signals (electrical activity) he recorded in a beech tree over a 42-minute-long sunrise. With the help of a custom-designed computer program, Robert converts the tree’s internal activity into a multisensory piece, activated by the plant’s increasing energy output as dawn progresses. Robert augments the drawing, but leaves the sound piece raw to minimize the distance between listener and live tree."
Janey Winchell
Branching Out curator
The (Singing Tree) beech tree was recorded on April 20th, 2006, from 06:54 to 07:36 AM as light slowly appeared over the eastern horizon of Knislinge, Sweden in the morning. The data recording was uniformly time-scaled (1:8) and used to drive animations throughout the piece.
Bokträd was exhibited on a wall-mounted, 50" video display with two pairs of headphones at the Peabody Essex Museum in the Dotty Brown Art & Nature Center during Branching Out: Trees as Art (September 27, 2014 to September 13, 2015).
