Thijs Biersteker – Econtinuum

Econtinuum invites us to dive into the ecosystem of trees. This work is a collaboration between the artist Thijs Biersteker and the Italian botanist Stefano Mancuso. Before our eyes, it creates a conversation between two trees as it might happen underground, showing how the two species can warn each other of danger, how they share nutrients and how they learn from each other. As visitors enter the system, they realise that the roots respond to their presence and learn from their habits, forming a futuristic ecosystem of shared knowledge.
The system is equipped with two sensors. Each one represents a tree and captures data on humidity, pressure, temperature, CO2 and the level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in the exhibition space. These sensors are combined with artificial intelligence that mimics inter-tree communication from a large network of scientific data.