MotherTree

by Julie Machin and Selma Bourdon
2021

MotherTree is an interactive light and sound installation that unfolds in a natural environment, on treetrunks, in order to magnify the intimate relationship between humans and the vegetal realm. The visitor is invited to share stories, whispering to the trees.
Thanks to a device made of collars of oyster mushrooms and lichens, the installation amplifies these voices, diffusing these messages in a luminous and sonic polyphony, like an echo in the forest.
The project is inspired by the mycorrhizal networks that run through the forest, allowing trees to communicate with each other.

In-situ experience
Other
Suitable for all audiences
from 10 to 20 minute(s)
Without dialogue
Update : 23/01/2023
Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
Mushroom molding with integrated microphone (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin)
Mother Tree, Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
Mother Tree, Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
Mother Tree, Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
Mother Tree, Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
Mother Tree, Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
Mother Tree, Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
Mother Tree, Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
Mother Tree, Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
Mother Tree, Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
Fused plastic texture, Mother Tree, Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, 2021 (Selma Bourdon et Julie Machin, 2021)
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The forest reaches each of us in a deep and visceral way. It revives memories, evokes stories and reveals emotions. The tree is an undeniable link between the earth and the sky, a temple of cosmic sensations, a place of shelter and confidence for our aches, for our words.

At the crossroads between the themes of nature and new technologies, MotherTree is a participative and evolving work. Imagined by Selma Bourdon and Julie Machin, MotherTree is an interactive installation that tends to refocus the plants at the core of the living and the living at the core of the world. By reclaiming the imaginary of tales, orally transmitted stories, we use the voice as a way of mystical communication, of inter-species cooperation from human to outer-human.

Scientific studies have proven that the mycelium (underground fungus) contributes to fungal intelligence (plant sensitivity). This has led us to consider the forest as a whole, a living body, whose "organs" communicate thanks to this subterranean nervous structure. The oldest trees (mother trees) constitute the "nodes" of the global network in the forest, feeding the youngest trees through the mycelium.

Inspired by the lichens and oyster mushrooms that grow in symbiosis on the trunks of trees, MotherTree delimits a sensitive zone on the mother tree that induces the visitor to come and confide in the hollow of its trunk. This interactive device, like a vocal receptacle, takes the form of collars of oyster mushrooms and lichens that lights up and diffuses sound. Using digital technology, in particular sensors and programming, the stories collected are then spreaded and amplified in the forest, like an effervescent, luminous polyphony.

The mushroom collars are made from bio-resin and the lichen collars are made from "fused plastics" from recycled materials. These conscious, innovative techniques adds to a different way of thinking digital creation by taking into account the environmental issues of our time.

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In-situ experience
Experience
Terms
Multi-users - Solo
Interactivity
Interactive
Capacity
From 1 to 20 people
Duration
From 10 to 20 minute(s)
Audience
Categories
Suitable for all audiences
Minimum age
2 years
Accessibility
Suitable for visitors with developmental and learning disabilities, Suitable for people with reduced mobility
Prices
Languages
Original language
Without dialogue
Dubbing
Subtitles
Team
Interpreter
yes
Public outreach
yes
Technician
yes
Material
Equipment
Other
Minimum space required
de 80 m 2 à 200 m 2
Internet connection
Not required to broadcast the artwork
Designed for the public space
A workshop may accompagny this artwork.
Awards
Programming
Vendredi [P]arty #6 - Le Château Ephémère Carrières sous Poissy (France), 2021
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Reference
J M
Artist
Julie Machin
S B
Artist
Selma Bourdon
Production-distribution
L
Partnerships and development
Le Château Ephémère
 
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