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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.
This pioneering installation, which kicked off National Science Week in August, is the creation of Australian artists James McGrath and Gary Sinclair, who are involved in an ongoing creative collaboration called Nature as Data. This is an exploratory work that continues to evolve and morph while maintaining some core themes including environment, science and art.
Ghost Trees, a spectacular view drenched in surround-sound, was developed from environmental data captured for the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) by Ghent University’s Professor Kim Calders.
For the visuals, McGrath drew on TERN’s three-dimensional LIDAR (light detection and ranging) scans, allowing viewers kinetic and surprising perspectives on the forest. Environmental sensors generated three-dimensional scans that were converted into ‘point clouds’: a snapshot of disappearing landscapes. Surround-sound audio from Sinclair pulls from eco-acoustic site recordings, with melody generated from the spatial data points of the trees to give the forest a voice.
‘The work strives to re-imagine and re-experience our connection to the wonder and awe of the natural environment,’ said McGrath and Sinclair.
The result is an ephemeral, artistic and moving convergence of art and data that paints a compelling portrait of what we are losing from the natural world.
‘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.
‘Ghost Trees invites people to engage with real-world scientific data at a visceral and imaginative level,’ added McGrath and Sinclair.
As visitors tunnel underground and turn their gaze upwards to ancient trunks through the immersive experience, they are invited to reflect on their place in nature – as well as their lasting footprint on it. It’s a mesmerising and unique opportunity to soar through a canopy in a human-designed space.
Ghost Trees (excerpt). Visual Director: James McGrath; Audio Director: Gary Sinclair; Data capture for TERN: Professor Kim Calders, Ghent University (Belgium). Data set courtesy of The Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)
Chris Mercer, Chief Experience Officer at the NFSA, says this thought-provoking Australian work sits at the intersection of art, science and technology. ‘Ghost Trees exemplifies how the arts can be used to create connections, share knowledge, inspire conversations and drive collaboration towards a more sustainable future.’
Hidden within the installation is a window into other Australian ecosystems, using ‘Pepper’s ghost’ illusion, a stage effect that involves reflecting light from an angled surface popularised in the 19th century by scientist John Henry Pepper. 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 of New South Wales: semi-transparent whispers from other forests. This beguiling addition to Ghost Trees invites deeper reflection on our relationship to the natural world and our attempts to contain it.
This phenomenal immersive experience follows Temple, the contemplative audiovisual artwork created by Leila Jeffreys and Melvin J. Montalban and dedicated to native Australian birdlife. Both installations reflect a broader commitment to sustainability within the NFSA – curating events and programming that bring people together to learn, reflect and be inspired to take action.
Guided by the First Nations principle of custodianship of Country, the NFSA’s newly launched Sustainability and Climate Action Strategy centres care, interconnectedness and shared communal responsibility. The Better Futures Forum will be held at the NFSA in Canberra on 10–11 September, bringing industry, community and government voices together for Australia’s largest multi-sectoral climate forum.
Learn more about Ghost Trees at the NFSA
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The NFSA's approach to sustainability is guided by the First Nations principle of custodianship of Country.
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