Environment-Controlled Light Sculpture, 2020
By Betty Sargeant and Justin Dwyer (PluginHUMAN).
MATERIALS: Addressable LED lights, printed acrylic, mixed media, audio. SIZE: 3m x 2m x 2.5m (h).
COMMISSIONED BY: Experimenta.
EXHIBITED: Experimenta Life Forms International Triennial of Media Art, Australia 2021-2023. Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize (shortlisted), South Australian Museum, 2022.
The installation’s shifting light and soundscape is driven by environmental data collected while observing significant trees in the Amazon, Panama, Taiwan, India and Australia, providing a broad international perspective, that speaks to the interconnectedness of global ecosystems. The title of this artwork, PULSE, refers to both the electronic activation of the sculpture while also pointing to recent scientific research that identifies sophisticated communication systems within and between trees. Sargeant photographed each tree at a microscopic level and these images were then printed onto the recycled acrylic that encases the sculptural forms. The work ruminates on the sentience of trees and, by extension, all flora and other living organisms – asking audiences to contemplate our relationship with the complex landscape in which we live.
The led lights at the core of the work are controlled by environmental data collected from each tree’s location. This includes recordings of soil moisture levels, temperatures, barometric qualities, movement and light. The sonic element of the work was developed through environmental field recordings within the trees and the ecosystems that support them. This includes recordings of the internal sounds of trees and underwater recordings from significant adjacent waterways. These juxtaposed recordings form an evocative audio score that transports audiences into the centre of each of these unique landscapes.
PULSE is entwined in research in molecular biology and biotechnology, which has made remarkable steps revealing the sophistication and interconnectedness of flora, fungi and microbes. The artwork ruminates on the sentience of trees and, by extension, all flora and other living organisms, asking us to contemplate our relationship to the complex landscape in which we live.
In 2019 Sargeant took part in the LabVerde: Artist Immersion in the Amazon program and the DINACON Digital Naturalism Lab program in Panama. During these art residencies she conducted research and collected tree data from deep inside the Brazilian Amazon and in the jungles of Panama. This led light sculpture has also been shaped by Sargeant’s research and data collection in Varanasi (India), Wulai (Taiwan) and Melbourne (Australia).
CREDITS
Betty Sargeant: Artist (micrographs), technical design, producer, field recordings
Justin Dwyer: Artist, technical design, programmer, composer
An Experimenta Commission 2020.
Thanks to the Exertion Games Lab, Monash University, Australia.
PRESS
Interview with Betty Sargeant.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Betty Sargeant lives and works on the land of the Bunurong people and the Yallakut-Willam clan who are Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation (Australia). Always was, always will be Aboriginal land. Betty Sargeant respectfully acknowledges the ongoing struggles and achievements of First Nations custodians. Sovereignty was never ceded.
