BLOG POST #8: IZZIE PANASCI TREE OF LIFE

Discussing the Tree of Life project with the team at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Lab was an experience that ignited my curiosity and led me to ask many more questions than I had initially prepared to. What initially struck me about the project was that there was a co-dependent “duet,” collaboration between nature and technology. I have never really seen a collaboration of the sort, especially one that harnesses the power of life. The piece would not have the same meaning or importance if it were purely human-made, and it would not be much of a project for NASA with just a tree alone! Integrating these two ideas into one experimental project at first felt new to me. Still, after some reflection, I came to see it was not utterly irrelevant to my practice as an artist. Artists learn to integrate their work into the environment, regardless of whether or not that thing that they’ve created has a function. I think that the team working on this project must have to make similar considerations when embarking on the placement and installation of their particular tree technology.

The Tree of Life project is extraordinary because it reminds me of a project that you might only ever read about in a sci-fi novel. When I think about the fact that a satellite is communicating with a tree, and then taking that data and using it to create a “song” of sorts, I realize there are few places besides NASA that would have the time and money to conduct such an experiment. 

Furthermore, I am fascinated by the grey area between human invention and imagination. The brilliant folks working at the Jet Propulsion Lab are continually entering and leaving this space with their work and their goals for this project. I think that the piece I created addresses this grey area because it is equally abstract as it is possible.  

For my piece, I created three ink drawings on watercolor paper that are imaginative interpretations of how the Tree of Life might look upon completion. I began to question, how can this type of work, which at first glance might appear purely experimental, become translated into elegant forms that still represent intricate relationships? Referencing the information and diagrams provided on the NASA website, I ultimately focused upon the core physical elements of JPL’s project, orbit, satellites, and trees.

I don’t know much about how these objects, as mentioned above, work together to extract information from the trees successfully. However, from an artistic perspective, I do think they are essential physical markers for humans to be able to make meaning of the unseen scientific activity going on behind these physical forms. In other words, I find it would be challenging to visualize the functioning relationship between the physical elements of this project without literally depicting the objects themselves. Although, the real excitement is happening in a field that humans are incapable of seeing without the technology that we’ve manifested for such purposes. I think art and my project specifically is the perfect remedy for that space between what we trust is there, and what we imagine.