The Eden3 research website (eden3.net, 2008–2018), archived on this site in 2026. The project page is Eden 3: Plein Air.
The Eden3 project is a five year artist-led climate-change research programme. Artists and musicians collaborate with philosophers, technologists and scientists to monitor real-time respiration and photosynthesis in trees reacting to CO2 changes in the local atmosphere. This experimental approach relies on perception, cognition and imagination with sustained active attention to trees ( the largest living things). The research is embedded in the potential impact of empathic, cross-species experience upon values and perceived responsibility. The user ‘hears’ the sound of physiological reaction (scientifically accurate photosynthesis data) as one leaf of a tree adjusts to surprisingly fine grain changes in ground level atmospheric chemistry. The development of this artwork began in 2008 and is expected to continue through two more stages concluding in 2013.
We have recently completed an Eden3 proof of concept system (the Plein Air easel) and a video that reveals the philosophical intent of the project. This artwork has been exhibited in Aberdeen, Scotland. Throughout this website you can find a detailed overview of the research, related publications, residencies and discussions with friends and colleagues.
If you are interested in supporting this artwork through visiting research fellowships, lectures, exhibitions or artist residencies please contact us. We will return all requests in one week.
Research
- Eden 3: An Overview of the Research
- Project Team
- A Conversation with Trevor Hocking
- University of Wolverhampton Crop Technology Unit
- Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Edinburgh
- Forest Research, Roslin
- Okinawa
- Eden3 bibliography
Practice
- Plein Air: The Ethical Aesthetic Impulse
- A Tree is a LIVING Thing (The Schelling-Piper Experiments)
- Trees are the Language of Landscape
- Symphony of the Trees
- Sound of the Tree
- Plein Air 2.0: Spirit In the Air
- The Breath of a Tree (2017)
- Future Forest
- Future Forest Caledonian Aware Access Black Wood
- Workshop Documentation
- The Workshop and its Outcomes
- The 2nd Breadalbane Deliberation
- Future Forest Case Study in UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-On