Artistic exploration examines importance of trees

Artist Zhang Enli has four paintings on show at the Trees exhibition in the Power Station of Art in Shanghai. CHINA DAILY

An ongoing exhibition at the Power Station of Art has brought together artists, botanists and philosophers to tell about their bonds with trees, one of the oldest living organisms on the planet.

Trees, an exhibition jointly presented by PSA, Shanghai's official museum of contemporary art, and the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, runs from July 9 to Oct 10. It showcases more than 200 works by more than 30 artists that highlight the beauty and biological complexity of trees, while reminding the public about the environmental problems that pose a serious threat to their survival.

The exhibition first took place in Paris in 2019, and was one of the most popular shows at the Fondation Cartier, a private cultural institution founded in 1984.

Scientists found that trees and other plants have sensorial abilities, communication skills, memory capacity, symbiosis with other species and climatic influence, according to one of the curators of the show, Bruce Albert, a French anthropologist who spoke to audiences in Shanghai via video conference at the exhibition's opening on July 8.