"A-trees"
Natalie Jeremijenko creates works that force us to examine the problematic consequences of technologies like cloning and software. This particular piece of work allows us to witness the growth of a synthetic tree on a computer desktop. The tree is programmed to change gradually in size by more than the artists' programming. Every upward spurt reflects the actual level of carbon dioxide in the air in the microenvironment surrounding the computer, measured by a real-time carbon-dioxide meter. So her A-trees serve as monitors of actual air quality and, by extension, global warming. They call into question the fate of real trees in a world whose environment is increasingly impacted by humans, as if to suggest that one day the only trees left will be digital.
Natalie uses the term "artificial life" Perhaps the idea of this "artificial life" is supposed to ask if A-trees grow and die in response to their environment, are they in fact alive? Jeremijenko combines the real and the virtual and makes me question my understanding of life and how we might work to preserve it.
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