Atmospheric Forest (2020) by Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits
- 22 hours ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 17 hours ago
Atmospheric Forest (2020) by Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits, blends science, technology and ecology in a way that immerses visitors in the sensation of awe as they wander through a forest experiencing the beauty and visualized micro energies of the breathing forest.
Astronauts describe their experience of awe when seeing the earth in space that gives them an overwhelming comprehension of the reality of the fragility of life. It's understood that experiences of awe on earth can also bring this realization. Atmospheric Forest, an immersive data sensing, sonification, point cloud VR artwork, is an example.
Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits are cofounders of RIXC Center for New Media Culture in Riga, Latvia. This artwork reveals the complex relations between a forest ecosystem and the atmosphere. It was created from three-years of research in Pfynwald, an ancient Swiss alpine coniferous forest suffering from drought due climate change, which Swiss scientists have turned into a unique living observatory.
Overall, the trees are not only oxygen generators for us humans, but they breathe as well, emitting large amounts of volatile organic compounds that we can sense as a habitual scent of the forest. Scientists are studying the effects of natural volatile emissions and whether the stronger smell of a pine forest indicates that climate change can be limited, or that volatile emissions could make global warming worse.
Atmospheric Forest visualizes the data patterns of the weather changes, the volatile emissions and the resin pressure in Pfynwald's pine trees showing that with climate change we are set for a more fragrant and more 'atmospheric forest' in the future.
Travel through Atmospheric Forest
Atmostpheric Forest is featured in The Next Renaissance? Stories+Art on Sustainability.
In 2024, a renaissance of transformative innovations is unfolding, yet the sustainability of life hangs in the balance.
Sponsored by The Puffin Foundation