An immersive and interactive installation that combines visual and sonic experiences. In Madagascar, the Amontana is a symbolic tree, a witness to history and a source of many virtues. It serves as a medicine, a food source, a building material, a fertiliser and a guardian of biodiversity.
The installation is a living, technological, and ritual apparatus that invites visitors to enter into dialogue with plants. Isa Ny Amontana opens a space for reconnecting with the intelligence of the living world, and for collectively seeking a remedy for our sense of rootlessness.
At the heart of the installation is a floral composition bringing together two Amontana trees—one male and one female—whose electrophysiological signals are captured in real time.
These signals are transduced into a luminous and sonic material that unfolds throughout the space.
Using their own smartphones, visitors are invited to interact with the plants by sending drawings, text messages, voice recordings, or questions.
These messages are transmitted to the plants as part of a collective experience: a three-minute performative loop of light and sound that attempts to uncover the mystery of plant intelligence, their language, and their resilience.
Each iteration mobilises technological tools in an attempt to provoke a response from the plants. Yet the experiment fails.
It is precisely through this failure that the work operates. By resisting expectations of legibility, measurable outcomes, and performance, it exposes the blind spots in our contemporary relationship with both living systems and technology.
Credits
Co-authors: Miranto Rafanomezana, Maxime Touroute.
Commissioned by Tana Design Week 2025 as part of an open commission on the theme Plant Intelligence.
With the support of the French Institute of Madagascar.
Exhibited for three weeks in Antananarivo, July 2025.
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Project dossier
Project dossier, recordings, and technical documentation available upon request at contact@maximetouroute.com.
The installation is available for exhibition in its current form or as part of a creative residency for a new iteration of it.