The Ideal Financial Tree

‘The Ideal Financial Tree’ is a data-driven sculpture that visualises the logic of the carbon market. Each tree ring represents a year from 2015 to 2025, its shape distorted by daily fluctuations in carbon prices. As prices rise, the rings expand — not through natural growth, but through speculation. The work reflects a system in which financial incentives override ecological rhythms, and nature is reconfigured as programmable infrastructure.

The project draws on carbon offset volume data and field research in Monchique, Portugal, where airlines use reforestation projects in carbon offset schemes. Through 3D-printed forms, printed research and photography, it exposes the temporal instability of systems that classify wildfire-prone forests as carbon assets. By placing the logic of carbon finance in tension with ecological complexity, the work challenges narratives of control and predictability, reminding us that nature cannot be programmed to meet economic demands.