Who knew forests could sing? Sure, there's the occasional rustle of leaves, but dig a bit deeper by needling tiny microphones beneath the surface of trees, and there is indeed much more to listen to, and much more to learn. This is exactly what Marcus Maeder, a researcher at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology at the Zurich University of the Arts set out to do with Roman Zweifel, a forest and tree expert at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape. The two teamed up on the research project "trees: Rendering Ecophysiological Processes Audible," which they’ve transformed into a three-dimensional audio installation at swissnex San Francisco from July 25 through August 18.
 
The resulting trees: Downy Oak is a prototype of a three-dimensional audio matrix currently being developed for data sonification experiments. An ambisonics setup carried through a grid of omnidirectional loudspeakers helps bring together and analyse plant measurements and recordings, and creates a walk-in forest of sound based on data obtained from a single type of tree, the Downy Oak.
This model serves as a tool for scientists to analyse patterns, links, and derivations between known sets of data. But it also helps the general public gain deeper insight into the workings of nature

Marcus Maeder (http://www.marcusmaeder.net/) studied art at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Lucerne, in Switzerland, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in philosophy at the University of Hagen, in Germany. Maeder runs the music label domizil, which he co-founded in 1996 with Bernd Schurer. He has worked as an editor and producer for the Swiss radio station DRS and has been working as a curator and research associate at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology since 2005. His artistic work focuses mainly on sound art, and on media art extensions of computer music. Maeder has also written on a number of topics in the fields of sound art and digital media.

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