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Office for Tree Migration (OTM) Hyytiälä, FI

open since April 2024 - ongoing

​​fig.top: OTM view from outside,

3min video trailer

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Office for tree  migration (OTM)

  • The Office for Tree Migration (OTM) is investigating tree and plant migration in different climate zones and along the treelines. How they go North, how they climp uphill in the Californian white mountains or how they enter the peatlands in response to climate change.

  • Furthermore the OTM is exploring possible, seemingly absurd or impossible methods that allow the trees to move faster and simply walk away from the changed climate.

  • OTM is a long-term research project by Agnes Meyer-Brandis, exploring ecotone transition zones around the world - combining artistic experimentation with scientific collaboration.

  • It develops and applies a variety of artistic approaches while working closely with scientists across disciplines. 

  • The OTM collects data, conducts experiments and develops new ways for observing slow or small invisible ecological changes.

Stations

A permanent OTM office is located at the scientific Hyytiälä Forest Station in Finland - open to the public since 2024.

It is a living installation and hybrid space between field station, artistic studio and exhibition creating interdisciplinary encounters between the public, artists & scientists.
 

  • OTM Hyytiälä Branch
    Opening hours: every day 9am - 8pm
    Hyytiälä Forest Station,
    Hyytiäläntie 124, 35500 Korkeakoski, Finland
    https://www.helsinki.fi/en/research-stations/hyytiala-forest-station
     

Other OTM´s appear temporarily in forests, wetlands, research institutes, laboratories and museums – worldwide - to study treelines in different climate zones. The OTM operates as a mobile research platform in collaboration with scientists across disciplines, including ecology, atmospheric sciences, geoinformatics, meteorology, and biotechnology.​

  • OTM Berlin Branch
    in transition - not open to the public at the moment

Methods & tools

  • The OTM does not produce answers but questions. The OTM is:

  • developping Communication tools between trees and humans
    - > example: One Tree ID project
    ​- > example: Have a Tea with a Tree

  • working with special OTM Agents around the world, in interdisciplinary collaborations with scientists 

  • developping software and hardware tools to turn ecological data into sensual experiences
    ​​- > example: As Trees Go By

  • using phenological camera networks and custom made software to observe and translate changing treelines into immersive artworks and data-driven installations.
    ​​- > example: Forest Green

  • developping hardware + software systems for longterm tree migration monitoring 
    ​​- > example: As Trees Go By

  • exploring and conducting assisted migration trials

  • creating experiments to investigate faster tree migration or adaption, such as „The Wandering Tree“ experiment

  • observing and exploring tree migration – ecotone transition zones around the world with its own methods and tools

  • researching methods to help trees and plants to migrate faster and to walk away from climate change

  • collecting and producing artistic and ecological high quality data

  • presenting various artistic formats to the public in the scope of exhibitions, lectures, performances etc..
    ​​- > example: Serlachius Museums, Mänttä

  • Example to investigate small changes / small scale
    -->  Molecular Tree experiment

  • Example to investigate slow changes / longterm observations
    -->  Wandering Tree experiment

  • Interspecies communication experiments
    -->  One Tree ID, 2019 - ongoing
    -->  Forest Bathing for Urban Trees

  • Assisted migration experiments
    --> Siikaneva Peatland, 2021-2025
    -->  If Trees Could Fly Like Snowflakes Fall, an experiment on a research rocket (in developement)

  • Mobilisation experiments
    --> Gym for trees, roots, stem and needles, Siikaneva Peatland, 2025

exhibitions

  • As Trees Go By - 5 channel video installation and exhibition

  • Migration Route, sculpture and software

  • Wandering Tree - an experiment, tool and installation

  • Forest Green - a software and installation

  • One Tree ID - ongoing project, installations and olfactory experiments

Collaborators

  • Climate Whirl Art&Science Program

  • Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) / University of Helsinki

  • Hyytiälä Forest Station

  • University of Eastern Finland

  • PhenoCam Network, US

  • Max Planck Society, DE

  • University Groningen, NL

  • FLUXNET international network

  • ICOS, international network

  • Institute for Art and subjective Science

  • Finnish Meteorological

  • Full list One Tree ID project: www.onetreeid.de/team

  • Full list As Trees Go By project: www.onetreeid.de/astreesgoby

supported by

  • Finnish Cultural Foundation / Pirkanmaa Fund

  • Alfred Kordelin Foundation

  • Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg MBB

  • Taike, Arts Promotion Centre in Finland

  • Serlachius Museums Mänttä

  • ACCC (Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center)

  • University of Helsinki, INAR

  • University of Eastern Finland

  • Stiftung Kunstfonds

  • BBK Berlin

  • Thanks to Hyytiälä Forest Station and all OTM supporters

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