VOCs – Trees – Communication
All Plants emit Volatile Organic Compounds, so-called VOCs. These are gases that contribute to cloud formation. Essentially, it is this odour that we recognize as the fragrance of a forest. Trees and other plants communicate with the help of VOCs. Furthermore, these emissions are very specific for each individual plant; one could say that each tree generates its own cloud.
|
A Tree Specific Perfume
For its first realization we selected a Himalayan Cedar. We measured the cloud of the roots, the cloud of the tree stem and the cloud of the needles separately. Despite tremendous advancements in technology, it is not possible to determine the VOCs 100 per cent. Therefore, we also invited the perfumer Mr. Marc vom Ende to smell the tree. The collected machine data and nose data / sense data where fused to create the perfumes “Cloud of the Roots”, “Cloud of the Tree Stem”, “Cloud of the Tree Crown”, which then – in a final step – lead to the synthesis of the "One Tree ID" perfume.
Project Phase 1 - Individual Cloud of a Tree
Measuring the individual cloud of the tree.
Project Phase 2 - One Tree ID
Synthesizing the individual cloud of the tree as perfume "One Tree ID".
Project Phase 3 - Tree Talk
Biochemical communication experiment set up between a tree and humans.
Project Phase 4 - Translation
Development of a system to measure and translate the dialogue and reaction of the tree (in development). |
Credits:
Agnes Meyer-Brandis in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Birgit Piechulla and Dr. Uta Effmert, Biochemistry, Institute for Bio sciences, University Rostock and Marc vom Ende, Senior Perfumer, Symrise.
In the scope of the exhibition "Experiment Zukunft" at the Kunsthalle Rostock, curated by Susanne Jaschko.
With kind support of:Stiftung Kunstfonds, Symrise AG and the University of Rostock.
See documentation of the installation here--->
|
 
Fig. left: Measuring VOC emissions of the roots, Rostock 2018, Fig. right: Marc vom Ende, Senior perfumer Symrise smelling the needles.
|
 
Fig left: Bottle with ONE TREE ID Perfume, Fig. right: Bottles with the following three perfumes: CLoud of the Roots, Cloud of the Tree Stem, Cloud of the Tree Crown, 14.02.2019
|
OneTreeID - Installation view, exhibition "Experiment Zukunft", Kunsthalle Rostock, DE, 2019,
more documentation images, see here: ----> |
