Forest Green (Sleeping And Awakening)

What colour would a forest be if it were only one colour?

The two channel video installation Forest Green (Sleeping and Awakening) by artist and researcher Agnes Meyer-Brandis shows ten-thousands of images taken from scientific observation cameras of a forest in Finland over the course of two years – as well as their average RGB colour values.

The point of departure of the investigation was a conversation with the forest researcher Pasi Kolari. Being asked by the artist if there is such a thing as beautifull data, the scientist showed a statisttical curve that he loved, representing the incoming and outgoing greeness of a forest.

The left channel video of Meyer-Brandis’ installation shows the awakening and the sleeping of the trees over the course of a year, by showing a monochrome color field. The color is precisely calculated and reveals the average colour value in RGB of the landscape of each webcam image, generated by a tailor-made software by Christian Dietz. Rapidly changing glimpses reflect the colour palette of the nature, days and nights as well as the year’ s cycle.

The right channel video shows the immediate reality of a boreal forest – the very one of which the RGB data were generated from: webcam images taken from scientific observation cameras of several forest field stations in Finland over the course of two years (2014-2016) to monitor phenomenological events during one year’s period.

The sound track is echoing the blinking colour narration – composed and performed by Michael Moser. The visual and sonic multilayered portrait of different forestial settings that Agnes Meyer-Brandis exemplifies help the viewer to gain imagination of the forest – or simply “nature” in a bigger picture – as a living being. As a monitored organism, it is showing movement not only philosophical through time, but also in a way of “breathing” as an upward und downwards movement. The rapid sequence of single recorded days, especially in winter, shows how the large trees seem to grow and crinch under the masses of snow, or because of climatic conditions affecting humidity.

The monochrome tones of the left channel video reflect a modern attitude of encountering natural phenonema more and more through scientific analyses and emphasis the contrast between technology and nature.

Agnes Meyer-Brandis realised the project in cooperation with: Pasi Kolari and the SMEAR Station Hyytiälä Finland, the University Helsinki and Climate Whirl.

Software: Christian Dietz Sound: Michael Moser Data: Pasi Kolari and Mikko Peltoniemi

Agnes Meyer-Brandis’ research and artistic work is consistently characterized by scientific observation and facts and bridge the interface between art and science. She first studied Mineralogy at the RWTH in Aachen, Germany. After one year she transferred to the Art Academy in Maastricht, Netherlands to study Sculpture. Her works has been awarded to various scholarships and prizes, e.g.: Villa Aurora resident Los Angeles 2010, transmediale06 winner first price 2006, Prix Ars Electronica, honorary mention in 2007 and 2003.