Innovative sound installation about humans alienated from nature

Swiss artist duo KiefferWoodtli (Sara Kieffer & Lucien Woodtli) present Arboreal Severance, a site-specific audio installation exploring the severed relationship between humans and the Earth. The installation opened on September 23, on the 2nd floor of the Planetary Embassy by Swissnex and will be on display through Thursday, September 25.

Arboreal Severance continues the duo’s long-term project Arboreal Serenade, first revealed at Art Basel 2025 and now part of the permanent collection at the Enea Tree Museum in Switzerland. While Serenade immersed viewers in symbiosis with nature, Severance confronts them with separation, reimagining the exhibition space as a living artwork that weaves tree signals, materials, and sensory design into a dynamic system.

»The climate crisis is also a crisis of perception«, say KiefferWoodtli. »We have forgotten that we are not apart from the Earth, but of it. By making this absence perceptible, the installation offers space — to feel, to listen, to remember.«

The central soundscape of the installation arises from the living signals of a 101-year-old Japanese Pagoda Tree at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. When many enter the space, the sound fractures, reflecting how human-made enclosures distort our connection to nature. As the room empties, fragments of harmony return, allowing visitors to experience both absence and presence.

 Exhibition Information:
Location: Mabou Mines, 2ⁿᴰ Floor, 150 First Avenue, NY
Dates: 23 September – 25 September