Tree Creatures

This work explores the relationship between nature and machine as a system in which the intersection and symbiosis of its parts create new possible meanings, symbols, and realities. In order to interrogate this possibility, I am asking how a radio antenna can inhabit natural places— is a tree, or forest, a potential antenna? In this work, trees function as antenna architecture- as support and a framework for exploring possible geometries. To create these, I play with different combinations and ways of connecting trees, stringing copper wire between their branches and trunks. In doing so, I generate a sculpture that functions as antenna, yet inhabits nature. The piece is a site-specific installation that occurs within a small part of Freeway Park at Downtown Seattle. A tree supports different antennas, each a part of a family of small autonomous sound and radio transmission systems. Each of these modules transmits a radio signal that, due to its specific shape, will be able to capture, and reflect back, a unique soundscape, taken from the airwaves. Antenna Creatures is a noisy and subtle sound installation, in which these seemingly alive devices camouflage themselves in the foliage of the park. In using the organic structure of the trees to produce their work, they generate a kind of ecosystem in which natural and artificial networks co-exist.

Spam Media Art Festival, Freeway Park, Seattle, 2023