Wood, metal, perspex, soil, trees, light, sound, water | 2.8m x 2.2m
Arborometer (2018) is an interactive installation that captures your emotional state through physiological parameters within sensory technologies. Familiar, natural forms are juxtaposed with unfamiliar, artificial structures creating a fantastical space. Audio-visual effects, myriad reflections, organic materials and geometric patterns are weaved into a complex experiential patchwork with ritualistic undertones.
Arborometer was first exhibited at the Central Saint Martins’ Degree Show One: Art (May 2018), followed by TheCUBE, London, as part of the Beyond the Brain residency (June 2018). It was awarded the Visions of Science Art Prize by The Edge, Andrew Brownsword Gallery (July 2020).
You enter the geodesic dome through a curtain of ivy to find soil covering the floor, a hexagonal centrepiece containing water and two olive trees on either side. Inside, you notice waist-high stands with moulded hand recesses immediately ahead inviting you to interact. On placing your hands on the recesses, hidden biosensors detect your heart rate and galvanic skin response (or sweat produced), physiological indicators of your emotional response. These readings are transformed into light and sound emitted by LED grow lights arrayed across the dome and subwoofers underneath the pool of water. The output varies according to the intensity of your emotions: brighter lights and more intricate vibrations (generating cymatic patterns in the water) are suggestive of a heightened emotional state. Light-sensitive reflective film coating the dome's triangular windows is also activated causing it to behave like jagged mirrors, reflecting parts of you and the scene infinitely.
Your interaction with Arborometer completes the bio-technological feedback loop, providing light for the trees, and creating a unique artwork within the space based on how you feel at the time. Can this be harnessed therapeutically to augment our emotional connection to one another and our natural environment?
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