After a yearlong residency exploring climate change, drought, fire disturbances, and the renewing rhythms of landscapes fluxART was brought to life at Oregon State University’s Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts (PRAx).
Artists and FLUXNET scientists gathered in Corvallis, OR 21-23 January, 2026 to celebrate fluxART, drawing several hundreds of visitors to experience their work at the opening event. PRAx’s exhibition Currents: Experiments in Art-Science Collaboration featured ten international artists, five of which engaged with FLUXNET research and scientists via the fluxART residency directed by Maoya Bassiouni as well as Climate Whirl Art&Science Program and Periferia Forest Art Lab curated by Ulla Taipale.
Events included a field visit led by Chad Hanson to the Metolius old aged ponderosa pine core Ameriflux site (US-Me4). Special guest from the University of Helsinki, Timo Vesala gave a cinematic lecture, Treebound – Puuhunsidotut, that explores the life of trees and their relationship to humans at the Center for the Future of Forests and Society.
Julia Oldham’s immersive audiovisual installation September: Orange was on view in the black box Ray Theater, inviting visitors on a journey through PhenoCam timelapses across 24 sites increasingly marked by wildfire. The premiere of Sara Bouchard’s electroacoustic composition En Masse was performed by the Oregon State Vocal Ensemble and Parker Williams in Detrick Concert Hall. Sara’s piece sings the carbon cycle, from air, wood, soil, fire, sonifying rising atmospheric CO2 data and dissolving climate anxiety into shared breath.
Four fluxART projects were on view in the Stirek gallery exhibition: Yanhaku (Breath in) (yucca plant fibers, natural pigments, natural clay) by Mallery Quetawki; Breathing as the Biosphere (website and data mandala) by Rosa Lewis and Maoya Bassiouni; Soil (musical score and audio) by Sara Bouchard; and 18//Flux (single channel video) by Julia Oldham. Visitors also had the pleasure to experience the Office for Tree Migration (multichannel video and installation) by Agnes Meyer-Brandis, a long-term artwork developed in dialogue with the international scientific community at the Hyytiälä Forest Station under the framework of Climate Whirl Art&Science Program.
We thank our partnership with Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts for showcasing fluxART projects and helping develop the residency program. fluxART is made possible through the FLUXNET Community Coordination Project supported by the NSF AccelNet Award 2113978, the USDA NIFA Award 2023-67012-40086, Virginia Commonwealth University and the L.L. Stewart Faculty Fellowship. Flux tower research sites featured in fluxART collaborations are supported by the AmeriFlux Management Project, funded by the US DOE’s Office of Science BER Program. Data was also provided by the PhenoCam Network, supported by NSF, USDA, US DOE, USGS, Northeastern States Research Cooperative, and USA National Phenology Network. The Office for Tree Migration art project has been created in cooperation with University of Helsinki INRAE, Hyytiälä Forest Station, University of Eastern Finland, and Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center, with support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Pirkanmaa Regional Fund, The Alfred Kordelin Foundation, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, and Serlachius Museums.