People are continuously pondering whether plants have audible communication abilities or if they scream when they are hurt or chopped down. Even Mythbusters did a show that put the latter to the test which was ultimately busted but had moments of possibility. So what do you think, can plants talk?

Artist Luke Jerram thinks they can and set out to make an art piece centered around the audible abilities. However what he captured is not so much communication as it is a concerto of noise that lead to his aptly title installation, Plant Orchestra.

Jerram’s artistic interests parallel my own so I can’t help but enjoy his work that pulls from his own fascination with the natural wonders of the world. This piece in particular explores an entirely acoustic experience that seeks to put the viewer in the world of the plant whether it feels comforting, overwhelming or even downright scary due to the unfamiliarity of this strange place.

In the artist’s words:

Although imperceptible to the human ear, plants create sound. Using specialist microphones water can be heard as it flows slowly up the stem of a plant. If trees are suffering from drought, scientists can measure acoustic emissions that occur caused by cavitation and embolism within the plant. The sounds created during the day are different to those at night and they alter with the seasons of the year.

Amplifying the acoustic emissions of plants using dozens of special microphones the Plant Orchestra reveals this new and hidden acoustic world. Through amplifyication, each plant is transformed into a musical instrument and becomes part of The Plant Orchestra.

The video below captures the experience of the Plant Orchestra at Night Jar at the Cambridge Botanical Garden which was the very first installation of the piece. “Hundreds of sound samples were recorded from dozens of plants within the glasshouses for the arts project. The best recordings were then played from their prospective plants as part of a light and sound installation.”

images via Luke Jerram

Figure drawing, both in motion and static pose, has been an artform for years. However, while a static pose is easy to translate into three dimensional form like someone sitting, standing or sort of frozen in time, capturing the actual form that movement takes is not.

Raphael Perret, a scientific assistant at the IAD program at ZHdK focused on interface theory, hardware interaction and real-time video processing sought to overcome the disadvantage that the three dimensional form has in capturing the actual act of motion as well as to find a way in which the viewer can physically experience this space. The latter is intriguing to me – to get inside the space of movement. Movement AS space.

What emerged is what Perret calls Project Bodycloud and he explains what fueled the desire for this project:

About ten years ago, I visited Brazil with my Capoeira club. The way, how incredibly elegant Mestre Corisco moved through space impressed me deeply. Since that moment, I was dreaming of doing a sculpture from movement.

The goal is to produce the sculpture in lifesize as a positive and negative. The latter meaning a solid block with the movement carved into the material. So the visitor can crawl into the space and explore it with the body.

Below are some videos of the process. First, motion sequences were captured then translated in the computer. From there, a continuous volume was rendered and then 3-dimensionally printed as a mini sculpture, like shown at the top of this post.

Milton #10.2.1 from Raphael Perret on Vimeo.

Milton #10.2 (Actor) from Raphael Perret on Vimeo.

Below are several rendering studies of the movement from different sequences as well as more information about the purpose of this project:

Human movement space is defined as the space a person appropriates by means of his or her movement, a space that is constantly expanded as the person moves. I am interested in movement spaces because it reflects the personal usage of space. Despite its habitual and daily character, this process can be cultivated and developed according to a person’s talent and physical ability. Along these lines, the personal appropriation and design of space starts with one’s body. In order to visualize this constitution, I choose the process of materialization into a sculpture. Thereby, I will try to the render this essentially ephemeral movement space tangible.

images via Raphael Perret

I’ve had pictures of Arne Quinze‘s piece, “The Sequence” just sort of bumping around in various spots I throw photographs for inspiration. I keep coming back to this one and I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to make a post about it. It’s simplicity continually pulls me back – just straight pieces of wood moving through space in a nebulous cloud of orange anchored in only a few spots. It feels both light and heavy at the same time and naturally glowing yet the piece does not incorporate a single piece of lighting.

The piece, however, is more than just simple sticks moving through space in an elegant way and it acts also as a linkage between the Flemish Parliament and the House of Flemish Representatives. The piece performs both a physical and metaphorical connection.

From the artist, “THE SEQUENCE bridges the communication gap between people and generates movement in the city. I want to reconnect people and let them interact with each other like they did in the past on squares. At least people talked to each other then.”

This piece by the Belgian artist was installed on November 13, 2008 and will stay in place for at least 5 years. When the piece is taken down, all of the wood will be reused for another purpose.

images via Arne Quinze and