Nelly-Eve Rajotte
Trees communicate with each other at 220 hertz
December 5, 2025—April 19, 2026
Trees communicate with each other at 220 hertz/ Les arbres communiquent entre eux à 220 hertz (2024) is an immersive video installation combining moving image, generative sound, and hybrid technological devices. Presented on three 4K channels and accompanied by a modular synthesizer connected to electrodes placed on a tree, the work offers a sensorial experience that brings nature, technology and the romantic imagination in dialogue.
Drawing inspiration from the boreal forest, the installation evokes the sublime landscape tradition explored by Caspar David Friedrich and J.M.W. Turner. It repositions the viewer within a space where emotion and infinity prevail over Cartesian rationality, inviting an intimate confrontation between the self and the vastness of the external world.
Addressing climate change and the disappearance of species, the artist adopts an empathetic and contemplative stance. Through LiDAR scanning, she digitally archives endangered sites, building a three-dimensional memory that questions non-human modes of capturing the landscape.
Oscillating between spectrality and preservation, the work creates a cinematic space where the viewer is invited to reflect on the fragility of the living world and on new forms of technological memory.
Curated by Mona Filip.
Upcoming Programs
Program Archive
Photo by: Christian Barré
About the Artist
Nelly-Ève Rajotte
(she/her)
Nelly-Ève Rajotte is a professor at the UQAM School of Design, where she leads the Moving Image and Sound Design axis. A visual and media artist, she structures her practice around moving images, sound, immersion, and the notion of experience, through performance and installation. Her research-creation explores non-human ways of perceiving and imaging the landscape using LiDAR, biosensors, artificial intelligence, and robotics as well as the sensitive relationships between technology, body, and environment. Her works, recognized for their immersive and monumental dimension, question the conditions of reception and propose new forms of perceptual otherness. Presented in Quebec at institutions such as the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MACM), the Musée d’art de Joliette (MAJ), Fonderie Darling, Occurrence, Clark, Optica, and Circa, they have also circulated in numerous international festivals and events, including MUTEK, the International Festival of Films on Art, Transmediale, the International Short Film Festival of Berlin, Lab30, ISEA, and the KIKK Festival (Belgium). Rajotte’s work will be exhibited at Emerson Contemporary (Boston) in 2026, and is part of several public collections, including that of Hydro-Québec.
About the Curator
Mona Filip
(she/her)
Mona Filip is the Chief Curator at Contemporary Calgary. With an idea-driven and dialogue-focused approach, Filip collaborates with artists to produce experiential installations that transform the familiar white cube, meaningfully respond to unconventional environments, and engage the public on sensorial, emotional and intellectual levels. Originally from Bucharest, Romania, she received her BFA from the Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC, and her MFA from SUNY at Buffalo. Filip’s curatorial experience spans more than forty exhibitions and site-specific projects, collaborations with guest curators, a broad range of public programs, and innovative educational initiatives. Over two decades, Filip developed critical visual art programs supporting the production of new works, introducing national and international artists to Toronto with first local exhibitions, and positioning both gallery spaces and urban sites as forums to generate critical, cross-cultural discussions on global concerns.
