Saturday, September 19, 2009

Natalie Jeremijenko

In A-Trees, Jeremijenko used a basic algorithm for a self-replicating system called the L-system (http://onetrees.org). The viewer is able to watch the growth of a digital tree on a computer desktop since it was programmed to gradually increase its size. Mark Tribe's article on Jeremijenko states that, "every upward spurt reflects the actual level of carbon dioxide in the air in the microenvironment surrounding the computer, measured by a real-time carbon-dioxide meter. More than mere renditions of a living tree, Jeremijenko's A-trees serve as aestheticized monitors of actual air quality and, by extension, global warming."

Jeremijenko is an artist, a scientist and an engineer who explores the relationship between technology and the natural world, especially in A-Trees. Her works have us question technology and the impact humans have made on the environment. A-Trees gives us a digital representation of an artificial tree that is impacted by its environment with the help of the real-time carbon-dioxide meter. Therefore, we can see the fate of the tree and thus, think about the fate of real trees. "The work's title alludes to artificial life, commonly known as "a-life." If A-trees grow and die in response to their environment, are they in fact alive? Jeremijenko cleverly bridges the real and the virtual, both as a technical feat and as a conceptual gesture, encouraging us to question our understanding of life, and how we might work not only to recreate it digitally, but also to preserve it" (https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Natalie+Jeremijenko).

I thought the project was successful in comparing the artificial and natural growth of trees and the importance of the environment's impact on the tree's life. It is a new way to think about technology to bring awareness to everyone. In onetrees.org, Jeremijenko has even distributed CDs with the software to grow a synthetic tree on your computer desktop as part of her OneTrees Project.

Sources:
https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Natalie+Jeremijenko
http://onetrees.org/

No comments:

Post a Comment