Tree of Life

Author: Naivy Pérez

Title: Tree of Life

Year: 2012

Genre: Net Art / Interactive Art / Process Art

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STATEMENT 

Tree of Life represents the correlation between the individual and the collective in cyberspace. In this digital context, each user contributes to the growth and development of a tree, reflecting the uniqueness of every digital footprint that visits it.

The tree, as a biblical symbol of good and evil, obedience and disobedience, is evoked here to explore the duality of our online existence. In the original garden, the “Tree of Life”* was surrounded by mystery, offering fruits of forbidden wisdom. Similarly, Tree of Life proposes a reflection on how our digital presence and actions, despite being ethereal, have tangible consequences and shape our realities.

This work invites visitors to be part of a virtual ecosystem, where each interaction “engenders life” and contemplation. It thus becomes a testimony to the convergence between the sacred and the profane, between the ancestral and the digital, between creation and observation.

* The “Tree of Life” is represented in the well-known Sephirotic Tree. It comprises ten spiritual emanations from God, through which He created everything that exists. These ten emanations (each individually called a Sefirah, and collectively, Sefirot) form the Tree of Life and are interconnected through 22 paths, each linked to one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Consequently, it is believed that the study of the Hebrew alphabet leads to an understanding of Kabbalah, and thus, Enlightenment. The detailed development of this tree can be appreciated in Kabbalistic texts like the Sefer Yetzirah. This is a profound compendium that requires appropriate instruction and scholarly guidance.

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