Ælab is an artistic research unit, founded by Gisèle Trudel and Stéphane Claude from Canada. Gisèle Trudel is an artist and professor, Stéphane Claude is a composer and sound engineer. Their process-orientated and collaborative approach combines art, science and technology with philosophy to create a practice-based ecology.

devenir-hêtre
2023, video documentation of an installation

In collaboration with Smartforests Canada and MÉDIANE, the Canada Research Chair for art, ecotechnologies of practice and climate change, Ælab is investigating visualisations about periods of drought in beech trees. What effects does the lack of water associated with climate change have on beech trees? Together with the scientist Blandine Courcot and the artist Marc-André Cossette, data numbers are expressed as visual animations which show how beech trees react to periods of drought. Using different colours, shapes, lines and particles, the installation shows threshold states of Fagus grandifolia as well as sensor data from weather, solar radiation, water potential and soil temperature. The work was presented on an outdoor scaffolding structure to create a space for dialogue between people, instruments and trees. The scientific article “Dimensional Data from American Beech Trees in a Changing Climate” describes the creation of the work.