Conservation
Skywalk Project
TREE BEACON by Petroc Sesti, As part of SKYWALK by Platform Earth, A Collateral Event of Biennale Architettura 2025
Curated by Nadja Romain and presented by Xerjoff, stands as a sculptural expression of the interconnection between art, science, and the natural world.
The sculpture was created in collaboration with rainforest scientists studying the carbon storage in the vast buttress root systems of giant fig trees. Standing nine metres tall and made from hand-forged, welded stainless steel, each component is meticulously shaped and polished by hand, a technique that provides a lightweight, low-carbon alternative to traditional cast metal sculpture. By avoiding the high-energy process of molten casting, Tree Beacon reduces both its environmental footprint and its physical weight, embodying Platform Earth’s commitment to sustainable artistic innovation.
Following its presentation in Venice, Tree Beacon will travel to Belém, Brazil, where it will be installed at the COP30 Climate Conference as a symbol of the urgent plight of the disappearing rainforests. The SKYWALK exhibition is located at La Fucina del Futuro, Calle San Lorenzo 5063B, Venice, just a one-minute walk from Chiesa di San Lorenzo.
Platform Earth is a pioneering environmental arts charity focused on science and conservation. Founded and run by artists, the organisation harnesses the power of the arts to shift cultural narratives and develop symbiotic relationships with nature while directly contributing to conservation and restoration projects around the world.
Tree Beacon
Tree Beacon - Sculpture Made From Recycled Bronze
Using Art to Change the World
Perspectives Spring 2022
Video from Ode To The Oceans exhibition at Super Blue, Royal Academy
Platform Earth
The eco-art organisation making a stand at Frieze
Reaching For The Stars
Lux Magazine article 2021 - Petroc Sesti
Petroc Sesti Studio and Conservation
Solar Powered
SOLAR | RELAY
Manifesta 13 Marseille 2020
Presented at Manifesta 13, Marseille 2020, Solar Relay is an installation that both portrays and engages the energy and sound of the Sun.
The piece is powered entirely by sunlight, with the water beneath reflecting and transforming the image, synchronised to the Sun’s sound as extrapolated from scientific recordings. This creates a fully immersive experience, in which the reflection in water serves as a metaphor for our fragile, chemically altered biosphere beneath the Sun’s ceaseless activity.
After collaborating with solar scientists for over fifteen years, Sesti developed this Solar installation where photovoltaic panels and space telescopes capture light to power the artwork entirely independently of the terrestrial grid. Only when sufficient energy levels are achieved does the Solar Relay projection activate, presenting footage in intermittent sequences that mirror the rhythms of sunlight itself.
Platform Earth
Engagement in ecological activism, conservation, and philanthropy has always been central to Sesti’s life and increasingly at the core of his practice. In 2017, he co-founded Platform Earth with Mollie Dent Brocklehurst, an arts and environment organisation that brings artists, scientists, and change-makers together to address the art industry’s carbon emissions. The programme commissions artworks born out of collaboration between artists and scientists, raising public awareness by connecting the heart of our cities to the sublime wonders of the biosphere.
Sesti believes that both arts and sciences share a fascination with the natural world and the technological means to study it, but differ in how they communicate this knowledge. Artists serve as ideal conduits, translating data into experiences that educate, inspire, and engage a broader public.
“It is time for everyone to play an active role. A complacent understanding of the problem is not enough, it is time for us all to be involved in the solution, and our movement should do more. It is important to act now.”
The first project in the Platform Earth programme, Tree Beacon, was created from laser scans of an iconic rainforest buttress tree in Sumatra, Indonesia. In collaboration with scientists using laser scanning technology, the sculpture quantifies the amount of carbon stored in the complex rainforest system. Tree Beacon was launched in support of the World Land Trust during their 30th anniversary celebration in London, attended by patron Sir David Attenborough.
For more information, visit www.platformearth.org and Lux Magazine
