Ghost Trees at the NFSA

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Immerse yourself in the endangered Rushworth Forest: soar through the canopy, tunnel underground and gaze up at ancient tree trunks recreated from real-world environmental data in this mesmerising, surround-sound audiovisual experience.

Bringing together science, big data and audiovisual art, Ghost Trees offers a new way to connect to nature and reflect on our place within it – and our impacts on it.

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We’re open 10.00am to 4.00pm daily on McCoy Circuit in Acton’s cultural precinct, Canberra. Plan your visit

About Ghost Trees

Ghost Trees is a creative representation of big data sets, captured by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network and transformed into an immersive experience by Australian artists James McGrath and Gary Sinclair. TERN used LIDAR (light detection and ranging) scanning to capture digital ‘memories’ of the endangered Rushworth Forest on the lands of the Ngurai-illam Wurrung people in Victoria. Environmental sensors generated three-dimensional scans for conversion into ‘point clouds’: data that represents disappearing landscapes.

Visual Director James McGrath transformed these point clouds into moving graphics, creating a visualisation entirely from real-world data without any artificially generated content. Audio Director Gary Sinclair studied eco-acoustic site recordings and generated melodic phrases from the spatial data points of the trees to give voice to the forest. The result is an ephemeral, artistic and deeply moving portrait of what we are losing from the world around us.

Ghost Trees at the NFSA includes the addition of a window into other Australian ecosystems hidden within the main installation. Using the 19th century ‘Pepper’s ghost’ illusion, the central pod creates a shadowy touchpoint with trees in the Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Tasmania’s Huon Valley and the TERN research SuperSite in the Snowy Mountains: semi-transparent whispers from other forests.

Ghost Trees was open from 10 August to 8 September 2024 in the Gallery at NFSA Acton in Canberra

A negative image 3D projection of trees in a forest under a night sky

Artist statement

Ghost Trees strives to re-imagine and re-experience our connection to the wonder and awe of the natural environment through art, data, science and technology.

The use of digital technologies – the new and thriving ecosystem – offers a counterpoint to the endangered natural environment and a doorway through which to remotely experience it in an entirely new way.

CREDITS
James McGrath Visual Director
Gary Sinclair Audio Director
Professor Kim Calders, Ghent University (Belgium) Data capture for TERN
Data set courtesy of The Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)

A voyage through nature

What do you get when you bring together science, data and audiovisual art? An immersive, multi-sensory ‘digital memory’ of an endangered forest. At least, this is the result with Ghost Trees, a journey through Rushworth Forest on the lands of the Ngurai-illam Wurrung people in Victoria.

‘The work strives to re-imagine and re-experience our connection to the wonder and awe of the natural environment,’ said Australian artists James McGrath and Gary Sinclair. Ghost Trees paints a compelling portrait of what we are losing from the natural world.

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Patrons in the Ghost Trees exhibition at the NFSA. They are standing in a darkened gallery surrounded by blue and pink projections of forest trees.

Visitors to the Ghost Trees exhibition at the National Film and Sound Archive silhouetted against large screens showing projected images of a ghostly looking forest

Step inside the digital memory of an endangered forest

Artist bios

Nature as Data is an ongoing creative collaboration between James McGrath and Gary Sinclair. Their exploratory work continues to evolve and morph while retaining the core themes of data, environment, science and art.

Gary Sinclair and James McGrath standing against a screen with colourful images projected onto them

James McGrath is an architect and painter. Over the past three decades, he has explored the meeting point between art, architecture, theatre and new media. He trained as a painter, assisting Patrick Betaudier (Paris) and Arthur Boyd (Australia). His work is motivated by the differences and tensions in the marriage of painting and 3D video. His digital installations and videos were commissioned by several Australian museums and subsequently presented at the Los Angeles J Paul Getty Museum in 2000. In 1999 and 2000, his work was included in the Sydney and New York film festivals. He has lectured in architecture at the University of New South Wales, where he was awarded the Australian Postgraduate Award. James has exhibited in New York, London, Sydney, Hong Kong, Toronto and Paris.

Gary Sinclair is a music composer, sound designer and recording artist. Working in the museum, experiential, public art and broadcast sectors, he has established a multi-discipline practice Tactile Music. His work explores the liminal space where sound design and music reside, creating soundtracks referencing contemporary classical, minimalism, ambient and electronic music genres. Gary is committed to integrating traditional music production, field recordings and creative technology. The work is grounded in authentic science concepts and the natural world and morphs from the real to the abstract. His approach to music and sound is altruistic, allowing existing narratives within science, nature, technology and philosophy to directly inform the production of his soundtracks. Utilising contemporary techniques in data sonification, generative music and sound processing, he views his role as a guide or conduit for the sonic articulation of voiceless ideas.

Artist Gary Sinclair walking through a gallery exhibition space, wearing black shirt and jeans and adjusting his glasses

Looking up at a 3D negative projection of a canopy of trees in a forest

Reconnecting to the wonder and awe of the natural environment through art, data, science and technology

What's on at Acton

There’s always something to inspire and delight at the NFSA. Catch a cult classic at Arc Cinema, explore the curious collection of audiovisual artefacts on display in The Library or simply drop in to enjoy a locally roasted coffee in Mediatheque or our sunny heritage courtyard.

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People looking at items in an exhibition space.

The Library

Discover The Library: a celebration of pop culture curiosities and a treasure box of the NFSA’s most precious, wondrous and whimsical artefacts. Admission is free: your adventure begins now.