As Trees Go by
an exhibition and 5x channel installation by Agnes Meyer-Brandis
12. April 2025 until 19. April 2026
Serlachius Museum Mänttä, FI
'As Trees Go By' overviews Agnes Meyer-Brandis' artistic work from 2013 onwards. The works are the result of a dialogue between the artist and naturalists, forests, peatlands and with trees. They question the greenness of the forest and the rootedness of the trees, offer perfumes made of volatile organic compounds secreted by the trees, and make human-perceptible cloud formations out of airborne fine particles or aerosols. The process of thinking and working through all this began when, about 10 years ago, the artist built a table next to the tree and invited researchers to have tea with a tree and her at the Hyytiälä Forest Station of University of Helsinki, 45 km south of Mänttä. The works in the exhibition are inspired by trees, science and monitoring nature. As an artist, Meyer-Brandis' skill lies in her ability to absorb and understand scientific research, from which she uses her storytelling, visual and spatial skills to discover entirely new dimensions. A surreal and humorous approach is characteristic of works in which scientific knowledge, for example on climate change, is presented with artistic freedom and absurd mischief. The works leave room for imagination and speculation. The data can be aesthetically valuable, even sublime. The exhibition is curated by Ulla Taipale. Two of the works are located in the park of the Serlachius Museum and one at the Hyytiälä Forest Station in Juupajoki.
Exhibition views, Serlachius Museum, Mänttä , FI
Sculpture, mixed media, 12 m x 10 cm x 10 cm, 2025 Migration Route depicts a pine tree’s slow trek through the ever-changing landscapes of Siikaneva, indicating the distance it travels per day. The chromatic timeline presents the calculated colour averages of the peatland vegetation / photographs taken every day at 1.00pm over two years. The calendar year is divided into two distinct periods: snowy and snowless. The software is developped in collaboration with Christian Dietz.
A living installation, a hybrid space between field station and artistic studio and exhibition creating encounters between the public, artists & scientists. It is open to the public since 2024 - ongoing The OTM is a longterm art and research project by Agnes Meyer-Brandis, 2016 – ongoing exploring how trees move across landscapes in response to climate change: northward, uphill or into the peatlands. To do so, the OTM is developping tools, custom made software and other methods, to explore tree migration, treelines and changing ecotone transition zones in different climate zones. For example 'Forest Green', a custom made software , 2017-ongoing, which is extracting colour data from vegetation areas in digital phenocamera images, creating various artistic outputs, such as multichannel video installations from ecological data, making visible the awakening and the sleeping of the forest and often invisible environmental processes. A permanent OTM office is located at the scientific Hyytiälä Forest Station in Finland. Others appear temporarily in forests, wetlands, research institutes, laboratories and museums - worldwide, to study treelines in different climate zones. More info here: onetreeid.de/otm
5 channel video installation, 5x 4K, stereo, 109min, 2025/26 The multichannel video installation is based on a 4 years observation at Siikaneva peatland, It consists of self recorded timelapse footage, extracted colour and other ecological data, combined with drone observations, documenting in situ measurements, assisted tree migration experiments, observing a wandering tree at Siikaneva peatland. The time-lapse images come from a camera monitoring system installed by the artist in the Siikaneva bog, which has been recording images there since 2021. The monochrome images – rendered using specially developed software called 'Forest Green' (2017-ongoing) – correspond to the average vegetation colour of each synchronous camera image. The colours provide valuable scientifically information and correspond to other scientific data such as photosynthesis.
Tree specific perfumes and olfactory installation, cloud furniture, 2019/2025,
from the series: „How To Become a Tree for Another Tree“, 2018–present
Every tree, plant and human has its own distinct scent. One Tree ID creates a biochemical connection between trees and humans by means of a perfume enabling people to ‘become a tree for another tree’. Each tree emits a cloud of gases and molecules called VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Trees use this invisible ID to communicate with their environment. Collaborating with scientific partners, Meyer-Brandis transformed the ID of specific trees into perfumes by measuring and synthesizing the VOC clouds released by their roots, stems and foliage. By applying the perfume, humans can invisibly communicate with trees on a biochemical level. The installation invites us to reflect on the relationship between trees, nature, and humans. The best way to connect with the tree is to apply the perfume in its immediate vicinity. Two tree species were chosen for this exhibition: the white willow (Salix alba ‘splendens sibirica’) and the black olive tree (Bucida buceras). The white willow on the museum grounds is almost 100 years old. It was chosen and planted in the 1930s by the horticulturist and architect Paul Olsson. Further info on the One Tree ID project: onetreeid.de/blog
Tree specific perfumes, measuring equipment, cloud furniture, 2025
from the series: „How To Become a Tree for Another Tree“, 2018–present
For this exhibition, two trees have been selected: a silver willow (Salix alba), a domestic European species, and a black olive tree (Bucida buceras). The black olive tree can be visited in the exhibition hall within its measuring setup – its volatile identity can be experienced by applying its One Tree ID perfume. On the other hand, the silver willow tree (Salix alba 'splendens sibirica' )standing outside near the lake. in Serlachius Manor Park is almost 100 years old. One Tree ID condenses the identity of a specific tree into a complex perfume that can be experienced by human visitors in order to apprehend the tree’s communication system at a biochemical level. By applying it, a person can invisibly wear not just characteristics of the tree he/she is standing next to, but also use parts of its communication system and potentially have a conversation that – although invisible and inaudible by nature – might still take place on the biochemical level plants use for information exchange. The artist aims at creating empathy and suggests an exploration of how to question the way we use our senses to generate new connections and interactions between species. Like humans, trees and plants also have their individual odour. One Tree ID’s perfumes offer alternative ways of information exchange with the plant kingdom upon which humankind depends. Further project info: www.onetreeid.de/blog
Wall collage, drawings, photographs, videos, perfumes, various elements, 22m * 3m * 1m, 2010/2025 Subsurdum is an ever-expanding visual archive of material gathered from the artist’s explorations of places and literary sources from the past twenty years. It sheds light on the insights and connections formed in Meyer-Brandis’ mind and on her desktop, some of which find tangible expression in the artworks presented in this exhibition. Subsurdum is a vast, complex entanglement of elements ranging from microscopic aerosol particles to vast entities such as the coniferous forest belt and the Earth’s atmosphere. The corpus may seem non-linear and incoherent, but it follows its own logic. Some of the material was experienced and documented by the artist herself, some is dreamed of, while the rest constitutes a not-to-be-forgotten archive of raw material intended for future experimentation.
Table for tea drinking, participative sculpture in the museum parc, 2015/2025 from the series: „Tools To Search / Teacup Tools“, 2014–present Tealemetree Station is a visual distillation of Agnes Meyer-Brandis’s artistic thinking, symbolizing a dialogue between trees, humans, art, nature, and science. In 2013 the artist built a table under a tree at the Hyytiälä Forest Station and invited scientists to join herself and the tree for a cup of tea. The encounter proved to be inspiring, at least for the human participants. The tree’s opinion is unknown. The title is a portmanteau of the words ‘tea’, ‘telemetry’ (the science of collecting information about remote objects) and ‘tree’.
performance on the exhibition opening, 12th April 2025, Serlachius Museums, Mänttä, FI
performance on the exhibition opening, 12th April 2025, Serlachius Museums, Mänttä, FI
Performance, songs, videos with various durations, 2024-ongoing Observing slow or small changes and migrating trees can be tedious and boring, so Agent E. Sloan has started singing. The time-lapse images come from the camera system installed by OTM in the Siikaneva bog, recording there since 2021. The monochrome images are generated by the custom software "Forest Green", in constant development since 2017.
Wandering Tree experiment, 2021-2025
Wandering Tree experiment 2021-2025
Songs from the Office for Tree Migration (OTM), 2024-ongoing
Wandering Tree experiment, 2021-2025
The exhibition is curated by Ulla Taipale.
In cooperation with:
INAR (The Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research)
Hyytiälä Forest Station
University of Eastern Finland
ACCC (Centre for Atmospheric and Earth System Sciences)
Supported by:
Finnish Cultural Foundation / Pirkanmaa Fund
The Alfred Kordelin Foundation
Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg MBB
Taike, Arts Promotion Centre in Finland
and Serlachius Museums Mänttä
Serlachius Team:
Niina Aaltonen, Krister Gråhn, Tarja Haikara, Timo Hannunen, Kirsi Hyvärinen (onko mukana), Mikko Inkinen, Johannes Jatkola, Jaakko Karppinen, Nea Kontoniemi, Marketta Linkoneva, Sampo Linkoneva, Veera Lopez-Lehto, Pasi Mälkiä, Päivi Nieppola, Jonna Numminen, Minna Rantanen, Suvi Rauhala, Juha Roponen, Arttu Salonen, Pauli Sivonen, Tarja Väätänen, Kaisa Ylinen, Susanna Yläjärvi, Annika Ylä-Rotiala / personnel of the customer service and guides.
One Tree ID Team
VOC measurements: Kaisa Rissanen / INAR, University of Helsinki
Perfumer: Marc Vom Ende
Production assistant: Simon Lupfer
As Trees Go By Team
OTM Agents:
Ulla Taipale / INAR, University of Helsinki
Heikki Laakso / Hyytiälän metsäaseama, University of Helsinki
Aila Martínez Taipale
Elsi Sloan
Inazio Iturriaga
Production:
IT Helpdesk: Kari Pouttu, Jonne Pitkänen
Toivo Pohja
Heikki Laakso
Postproduction:
Software: Christian Dietz
Production assistant: Simon Lupfer, Zuzanna Kuglaz
Co-Editing: Marie Cathrine Theiler
Sound: Michael Moser
Vocals: Elsi Sloan
Sound Design: Jochen Jezussek
Colour Grading: Till Beckmann
MBB Management: Tina Mersmann
Migration Route Team:
Software: Christian Dietz
Production assistant: Simon Lupfer, Juergen Hansen
Office for Tree Migration Hyytiälä
Technical set up: Fabian Heller
Wanha Puusepänverstas: Matthias Braun, Tom Härkönen
Software: Christian Dietz
Mikko Haaramo / Helpdesk University of Helsinki
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the many OTM Agents who have helped with the long-term and challenging observation of migratory trees, whether it be setting up and maintaining weatherproof camera and monitoring systems in the Siikaneva peatland (OTM Agents H. Laakso, T. Pohja), IT support (K. Pouttu), data management and evaluation (C. Dietz, Z. Kuglaz and S. Lupfer), measurement campaigns and assisted migration trials (OTM Agent U. Taipale), regular mobilisation of roots, trunks and leaves/gymnastics for trees (OTM Agent E. Sloan), the Hyytiälä Forest Station, Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR), Climate Whirl Arts Program and many other OTM funders and supporters, see website: www.ffur.de/otm
Many thanks to:
Timo Vesala / INAR, University of Helsinki
Janne Levula
Pasi Kolari
Eeva-Stiina Tuittila / University of Eastern Finland
Aino Korrensalo / Luke / University of Eastern Finland
Juho Aalto / Hyytiälä Forest Station, University of Helsinki
Antti Uotila / Hyytiälä Forest Station, University of Helsinki