Art, nature, technology and one thousand trees

Eleanor Heartney, in Art, Nature and Technology - Art and Today, refers to the artist Natalie Jeremijenko and the ways in which she utilizes her knowledge of science to create aesthetically pleasing yet puzzling works of art.  Jeremijenko's works are the coalescene of art and ecology, her artistic practice is based around the notion of "creating interfaces that draw people into the environment and get them to reimagine collective action."[1] 

French Phenomenological Philosoper Maurice Merleau-ponty writes that "the relationship between things or between the aspects of things [are] being always mediated by our bodies, the whole of nature is the mise en scéne (production) of our own life.."[2]. Much like Heidegger he discusses ideas that the body - the being, is constantly interconnected with the external world and that our perception plays an important role in our understanding and engagment with the world. 

Like nature and life, art is the manifestation of grand organization of processes and transformations in time. Technology and science has come exhaustingly far in the past 20 years, and with it our understanding of nature and the world of which we inhabit. Jeremijenko's works play heavily on our perception of science, nature and technology and relationship they have with each other and us - as bodies, people, society.

Natalie Jeremijenko, One Trees, 2000

http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/one-trees/images/3/

Her work One Trees (2000) involves the cloning and distribution of 1000 trees throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, the work is set to exemplify what we do - or don't know, about genetic engeneering. The work is a public project and Jeremijenko actively encourages people to participate in the documentation of the natural differences that occur in the 'identical' trees as they grow. 

Natalie Jeremijenko, One Trees, 2000
Location Castro Valley, San Francisco 

In this work she delineates the complexities of genetics' and their interaction with environmental influences, presenting the experiment and results as a public work and survey for debate regarding these current issues.

Sorry the images are poor - troubles, troubles and the internet that evades me. 

Also this is a link to her X Clinic - The Environmental health Clinic and Lab. 

http://www.environmentalhealthclinic.net 

[1] Berger, Kevin."The artist as mad scientist"( 2006) http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2006/06/22/natalie/

[2] Benthal, Jonathan. Science and Technology in Art Today: Art and Ecology. Norwich: Thames and Hudson, 1972. - secondary reference.