Working alongside the team at YCAM Interlab, Japanese composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto has created a new installation that turns bioelectric data collected from trees into dreamlike soundscapes. Aimed at drawing our attention to trees and forests as “supporting pillars of human living environments”, the artists laid the groundwork for Forest Symphony by installing sensor devices on trees around the world to measure their biopotential. The resulting data is displayed on screens at the installation site and subsequently turned into audio, responsive to electromagnetic waves.

Displayed against a forest-like backdrop as part of YCAM’s Art - Environment - Life exhibition, Forest Symphony’s output responds to the evolving seasonal and climatic changes experienced by Sakamoto’s monitored trees’, and, in addition to creating a unique composition, has been valuable as a data collection source, presenting a true depiction of our evolving natural environment.