Virtual Trees: Art and the Environment United
The artwork of Natalie Jeremijenko caught my interest by the way that it brings critical environmental issues to the foreground by presenting them in interactive and visually appealing ways. Jerimijenko is a Visual Arts Associate Professor at NYU, who combines her knowledge of Computer Science, Engineering, and Environmental Studies to create work that is centered on the relationship between technology and the natural world. She uses technology – usually associated with order and abstraction – to tangibly explore the chaotic complexities of the real world.
A-trees, for example, is a computer program that allows users to witness the growth of a virtual tree on their desktop. Interestingly, the growth rate of the tree is determined by the actual level of carbon dioxide in the air surrounding the computer, measured by a carbon-dioxide meter that plugs into the local serial port. Using a growth algorithm, the tree is programmed to gradually develop just as a real-life tree would if it were planted in soil. These dynamic tree replicas monitor air quality in a visually appealing way, as well as illustrate the realities of global warming over time. A-trees forces viewers to contemplate the fate of real trees in a world whose environment is constantly effected by human interactions.
Likewise, Stump is a printer queue virus that keeps track of the amount of pages consumed by the printer. When the equivalent of a tree in pulp has been used up, the program automatically prints out a cross-section of a tree stump. Accumulating these printed cross-sections creates a stack that symbolizes a stump of a tree that you have consumed. This interactive program creates a tangible representation of tree debt and allows the user to have a personal relationship with environmental destruction.
Jeremijenko explains that her work is “all about creating interfaces that draw people into the environment and get them to reimagine collective action.” I think she succeeded in creating these programs, which remind us how we are altering the environment, and in turn encourage us to question how we can work to preserve it.
