Interface

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This project explores the thresholds in forestal planning and the many different situations and stories these trees can tell through an interactive interface. Social relationships are challenged by being removed outside the traditional anthropocentric view to them, in this interface the trees will not only speak human language but they will speak tree language. A language that doesn't need to be heard, but can be smelled, seen, and electrically felt. I recreated the abandoned plantation in Tambo Island in the Estuary of Pontevedra, where the military carried out several experiments after winning the Civil War and therefore closed the island to the public up until today.  By alternating the Tree’s opinions on the situation I will be able to criticise the management of the forest and show why it has harmed the community, fauna, and flora. The script and instructions can be found below. 

 

 Proximities are challenged in different ways, the distance between the interface user and the landscape itself evokes the concept of action-consequence and how we don't realise our impact on the environment until it's done.  The interface character and its distance to the trees within the landscape are a different type of proximity, as the character moves through and gets closer to the trees, it will acquire different information/reactions from the elements and again present the illusion of control.

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Historic Context 

Eucalyptus trees were first brought to Galicia by a catholic missionary from Australia. The purpose of incorporating the species was to dry up wetlands to avoid plagues and bacteria. The region is the most humid in the Iberian Peninsula, although it has hosted 40% of the “wild”-fires in the last 20 years. Galicia produces 4 million tonnes of Eucalyptus wood yearly, 2 million are for the factory exclusive supply. 500.000 hectares out of 2.9 million hectares of the total surface of the region are covered by Eucalyptus. 

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Before the Civil War, Spain was a Republic and Galicia had an Autonomy Statute. During the dictatorship, Galician culture was extremely censored and oppressed, to a point in which anyone willing to defend the idea of a nation will be executed or exiled.

One of the strategies of the regime for censorship and control over Galician land was the implementation of a cellulose factory in the Estuary of Pontevedra. The main supply for the factory is wood. Fast and cheap. Eucalyptus trees, previously used for hygienic social security and traditional medicine remedies, are now turned into a weapon to erase the native forest, its symbols, and links to the Celtic history and the people living in it. 

 

Some characteristics presented by the monocrops are that very few species co-exist with them, they have roots as deep as 60 metres underground which have enough strength to break rock and concrete therefore their leaves are toxic to most of the animal species. Their average height is 40-60 metres and the flexibility of its trunk allows them to bend with the wind very easily and as a consequence they are pyrophytic, they spread fire very fast and they have become dangerous to be around.