The dimensional data of American beech trees in changing climates: environmental data science meets digital art installations in public space

Climate change is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges for humanity to address. The IPCC synthesis report (2023) provides guidance; yet the constant barrage of adverse impacts seems to paralyze citizens who recoil from taking action under the pressure of constant and rapidly approaching “tipping points”, thresholds between two states. In this article, we explore thresholds through the lens of what we call “dimensional data”, understood here as both a measurement and a quality of this particular data. Data were collected in the academic research site of a forest near Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal (Quebec, Canada). They show the resilience of another living being, the American beech tree (Fagus grandifolia). Comparing different species, analysis highlights how American beech trees can sustain repeated short but intense periods of drought. The article is grounded in Courcot’s research and its numerical approach is extended publicly in a distinct immersive outdoor art installation. It is the third in a series of four in situ artworks produced by MÉDIANE, the Canada Research Chair in Arts, Ecotechnologies of Practice and Climate Change (2020-2025), led by artist and professor Gisèle Trudel (University of Quebec at Montreal, UQAM). MÉDIANE’s main mission is to collaborate with scientists at Smartforests Canada (led by professor and forest ecologist Daniel Kneeshaw at University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) and at DOT-Lab, the environmental data lab directed by professor and forest ecologist Nicolas Bélanger at TÉLUQ University (Montreal, Canada). The goal is to bring forest, tree and soil scientific sensor research about climate change into outdoor art exhibitions, in order to create dialogues between artists, scientists and publics. In this instance, American beech tree thresholds are expressed through an art-science collaboration and digital art creativity. From soil water potential and soil temperature sensors compiled from 2017 to 2020, the data reveal the tree’s own dimensional relations to its environment in the dynamic visualizations of the artwork entitled "Beech-Becoming", presented in a rural forest in May 2023.