Foresta-Inclusive: (ex)tending towards, by Jane Tingley
June 11 – June 14
Emerson Contemporary has joined hands with the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), one of the world’s largest and most prestigious gatherings of sound artists, electroacoustic composers, and music technologists from across the globe. As a part of the installation track of ICMC 2025, presenting Foresta-Inclusive: (ex)tending towards, by Jane Tingley – on display at Emerson Contemporary’s Media Art Gallery from June 11th – 14th.
(ex)tending towards is driven by sensor data collected using the Foresta-Inclusive infrastructure at the rare Charitable Reserve in Blaire, ON. CA. This infrastructure includes three networked ecosensors that are installed unobtrusively onto the trunk of a tree and sense phenomenon such as: temperature, humidity, VOCs, particulate matter, wind, C02 and rain. The in-gallery installation is composed of three main components: 1) a visualization that images 24hrs of collected data, where the outer ring shows contemporary values and each subsequent smaller ring images the values from the previous hour, 2) a point cloud of the tree being sensed, and 3) the soundscape that sonifies the collected data. This work uses a simple gestural interaction to allow the participant to move into the 3D space of the visualization to explore the deep time of the tree’s life. The slower one moves the easier it becomes to inspect each ring of the tree’s experience.
In response to the temporal difference between tree and human individuals, this work explores ways to slow down human engagement, and to make visible the daily experience of a tree. The aim of the work is to find ways to demonstrate the absolute liveliness of the natural world as it unfolds all around us – yet more often than not beyond our limited sensory perception. The first visualization materializes data as a particle flow field that gently undulates and is affected in real time by changing data. Inspired by tree rings as evidence of yearly experience, the visualization is structured in the same manner and visualizes the last 24hrs of the tree’s life, where the outer ring shows contemporary values and each subsequent smaller ring the values from the previous hour. To interact with this visualization, there is a one-meter-tall cork cylinder that is also a scent sculpture, which releases the scent of geosmin (the scent of a forest after it rains) every time it rains in the forest.
To interact, the participant uses a simple gestural interaction to move spatially into the visualization. The slower one moves, enables the participant to inspect each ring. The interface is embedded in soil, which also contain a set of sculptural sensor pods. Next to the visualization is a point cloud visualization of the tree at the rare Charitable Reserve. The point cloud was captured by a LIDAR scan of the forest at rare using a very large drone and rendered using Touch Designer. This point cloud is also affected in real time by live data. Like the visuals, the sonic elements materialize the forest data in a generative sound experience that balances between mimicry and poetic memory of forest experience.
In its entirety this installation creates an embodied exploratory space where the deep time of a tree’s life is remembered, and the human body is slowed down in the engagement.
Artist Statement
Jane Tingley is an artist, curator, director of the SLOlab (Systems | Life | Ontologies) and
Associate Professor at York University. Her studio work combines traditional studio
practice with new media tools – and spans responsive/interactive installation,
performative robotics, and telematically connected distributed sculptures/installations.
Her works are interdisciplinary in nature and explore the creation of spaces and
experiences that push the boundaries between science and magic, interactivity and
playfulness.
Hrysovalanti Fereniki Maheras, also known as Hryso, is a computational art practitioner
specializing in generative audiovisual art simulations and electronic kinetic art. She
collaborated on the sound design of this project. Currently a Ph.D. candidate in
Computational Arts at York University, she also serves as a studio instructor for
audiovisual arts. Hryso’s artistic exploration involves seamlessly traversing between
virtual and physical technological realms, aiming to create art that investigates the
emergence of a virtual analog environment within a shared, intricate physical habitat.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Faadhi Fauzi: Three.js Web development
Kavi – Ilze Briede: 3D modelling and Touch Designer
Marius Kintel: Firmware and MQTT VCR development
(ex)tending towards – on display at Emerson Contemporary’s Media Art Gallery from June 11th – 14th.
