Swiss Artist Duo KiefferWoodtli Present Arboreal Severance: An immersive audio installation

Written By DAB

Exhibition Dates:
23–25 September 2025

Location:
Mabou Mines
2nd Floor
150 First Avenue
New York, NY

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 September 23, on the 2nd floor of the Planetary Embassy by Swissnex and will be on view 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 organism that weaves tree signals, materials, and sensory design into a dynamic system.

“The climate crisis is also a crisis of perception. 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.”
— KiefferWoodtli

At the core of the installation is a soundscape generated from the living signals of a 101-year-old Japanese Pagoda Tree at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. When many people 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.

Acknowledgment: Special thanks to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for granting access to the 101-year-old Japanese Pagoda Tree, whose signals were collected and translated into the soundscape by KiefferWoodtli.

“Following the reveal of Arboreal Serenade at Art Basel 2025, we now present Arboreal Severance during Climate Week NYC — a site-specific audio installation exploring the fractured relationship between humans and the Earth. While Serenade immersed viewers in symbiosis with nature, Severance confronts them with separation, reimagining the exhibition space as a living organism that weaves tree signals, materials, and sensory design into a dynamic system.”

Partners: Swissnex, SilencePlease, Vitra, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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