A few weeks back, we reported on 3rd year student Bryden, who is using the Tending Garden as a site to develop his project called Techno Tree.

With the help of Tending, Bryden was able to secure a small amount of funding from the Sydney University Student Union to buy some electronics for his project.

I asked Bryden to describe what he’s been up to for our readers:

Hi Lucas.
I’ve been busy of late doing bits and pieces on my weeping willows so I thought I’d write you a few lines and send through some pics of the processes, outcomes and related stuff on the Techno Tree Project.

Where I grew up on my parents property in the Blue Mountains, we had a lot of trees and open spaces to spend most of our days. There used to be a whole row of big old willow trees in the gully where our mud brick house is but most of them have since been knocked over by wind, given way under their own weight and struck by lightning. Within a matter of weeks a bunch of new sprouts would emerge from the remaining branches and the tree brings itself back to life.

Having cultivated a collection of branches from a particularly old and interesting looking Willow, I wanted to position simulated images and sound amongst the living off-cut branch in a kind of gardening-experiment media-object that pays homage to the willow tree. I also wanted to draw attention to plants, technology and human interaction between the environment and the technology we use amongst it.

Moving images as part of a sculpture seem to work really interestingly in an interactive space. Macro photographic videos of leaves, bark, branches and surrounding natural features are worked into an atmospheric soundtrack of similiar organic dimensions.

Power supply for the video, sound and light in the trees is designed so that it may be self sufficient once a solar or wind powered input is connected. For now there is a sine wave invertor and a small 12v battery providing all the power the work will need.

Talk Soon!
Bryden.

As an addendum, today Bryden sent through the following philosophical thought:

Hi Lucas.
Hope you’re well.
Had a little quote I wanted to shoot to you re: Techno Tree:

“When we are seeking the essence of ‘tree,’ we have to become aware that what pervades every tree, as tree, is not itself a tree that can be encountered among all the other trees”.
– Martin Heidegger

Hope you can use it on the tending blog!
Talk soon,
Bryden

Wow! thanks Bryden. If anyone can help interpret this densely packed cryptic utterance from old Marty Heidegger, be our guest!

(Hint: it comes from his classic essay The Question Concerning Technology…)