Press release 25 March 2025

Trees wander in Agnes Meyer-Brandis’ exhibition at Serlachius in Finland

The German artist Agnes Meyer-Brandis’ exhibition As Trees Go By questions the greenness of the forest and the rootedness of trees. Opening at Serlachius on 12 April, the show presents research tinged with freedom of the arts, including how trees react to climate change.

The exhibition will feature the world premiere of the five-channel video installation As Trees Go By. Additionally, works from Agnes Meyer-Brandis’ (b. 1973) oeuvre over the past ten years will be showcased. The exhibition is a poetic view of reality based on artistic and scientific observation.

Some of the works are located inside the Serlachius Manor, some in the museum park, and one at the University of Helsinki’s Hyytiälä Forest Station in Juupajoki. All the works are conceptually multidimensional and multidisciplinary installations.

The exhibition inspires us to look at the forest in a new way: to follow the migratory movement of trees and their communication, as well as the colours and fragrances of the forest and peatland landscape. The background of the works includes long-term monitoring of trees, the artist’s access to data from international research stations, and dialogue with researchers.

Trees’ Individual Cloud of Scents 

The exhibition features two living tree individuals whose identity has been defined by measuring their volatile organic compounds and converting the measurements into perfume. When visitors apply the perfume to their skin, they enter into biochemical interaction with the trees: a nearly hundred-year-old White Willow growing in the Serlachius park and a Black Olive Tree brought to the museum. One Tree ID has been on show in exhibitions around the world and through the artwork, thousands of people have been able to communicate with local trees.

Meyer-Brandis was inspired to focus on forests and trees in her art while working at the Hyytiälä Forest Station artist residency in 2013–2014. The work has continued with regular residency periods in the Climate Whirl Arts Programme of the Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR).

The moving images and sculptural elements created by the artist are based on complex technical filming structures and scientific measurements. They provide a broader than a momentary understanding of the processes taking place in nature – including those that the human eye cannot perceive.

Her art provides sensory tools to interact with trees and understand them as active agents. The works, based on research data, revel in artistic freedom and give space for imagination and speculation.

Office for Tree Migration observes trees

Office for Tree Migration (OTM), founded by Meyer-Brandis, was established at the Hyytiälä Forest Station in 2021. The OTM is a long-term project observing tree migration: a global phenomenon which has been studied as part of climate change by natural scientists in Finland and elsewhere.

The filming of wandering Scots Pine has been going on non-stop in the Siikaneva peatland in Ruovesi since February 2022. The result, a  five-channel video installation As Trees Go By is an impressive artwork and at the same time an important documentation of the changing peatland nature of the protected Siikaneva. The work will be on show at Serlachius Manor for one year.

In the exhibition space, the body of work focusing on tree migration also includes the sculpture Migration Route, Siikaneva Peatland, Tree #228, 2023–2024. It depicts the journey of a Scots Pine as a year-long timeline in the rich colour palette of the peatland landscape.

On your way to Mänttä, you can visit the University of Helsinki’s Hyytiälä Forest Station in Juupajoki, 37 kilometres away. The Office for Tree Migration, located in a small log cabin, is open to the public from 11 April to 31 October 2025. At the same time, you can explore the exhibition Periferia – Forest Art Lab at the forest station. Admission is free.

The exhibition As Trees Go By is on show at Serlachius from 12 April 2025 to 19 April 2026. The exhibition is curated by Ulla Taipale.

The works have been created in collaboration with INAR (Centre for Atmospheric and Earth System Sciences), Hyytiälä Forest Station, the University of Eastern Finland, and ACCC (Centre of Excellence for Atmosphere and Climate). The implementation of the works has been supported by Finnish Cultural Foundation / Pirkanmaa Fund, The Alfred Kordelin Foundation, MedienBoard Berlin-Brandenburg, Taike – Arts Promotion Centre Finland and Serlachius.

For more information: Ulla Taipale, exhibition curator, tel. +358 (0) 40 511 0214, ulla.taipale@helsinki.fi

Image requests: Susanna Yläjärvi, Information Officer, Serlachius, tel. +358 (0) 50 560 0156, susanna.ylajarvi@serlachius.fi

Additional information:
One Tree ID: https://www.onetreeid.de/ 
Have a Tea with a Tree: https://teawithatree.com/
Periferia – Forest Art Lab: https://www.periferia.helsinki.fi/

Serlachius is open:

in the winter season, 1 September–31 May, from Tuesday to Sunday, 11 am–6 pm

in the summer season, 1 June–31 August, every day 10 am-6 pm

Visiting addresses:


Serlachius Manor, Joenniementie 47, Mänttä, Finland
Serlachius Headquarters, R. Erik Serlachiuksen katu 2, Mänttä, Finland

Serlachius in the social media: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube