Unesco | LVMH
Wither
A slice of rainforest disappearing at the Amazon deforestation rate
CREDITS
Artistic Lead
Thijs Biersteker
Scientific Lead
Meriem Bouamrane, Paulo Massoca, Sacha Siani
Studio Director
Sophie de Krom
Produced by
Woven Studio
Electronics
Tom Bekkers
‘Wither’ at Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden (DE), 2021
‘Wither’ at Barbican centre London (UK), 2022
‘Wither’ at COP16 Cali (CO), 2024
Production
Bastiaan Kennedy
Interface frontend
Bas van Oerle
Technical Lead
Thijs Biersteker, Jochem Esser
Technical Assistants
Theo Rekelhof, Lode Dijkers, Nathan Pottier, Madelief Broekman, Amba Bharti, Quérine van der Wijde
EXPERIENCE
As visitors approach the artwork, the leaves appear to shimmer, fade, and re-form.
Drawn in by the aesthetics of the piece, visitors begin to notice the subtle flickering of the leaves as they respond to the data. With each flicker, a clicking sound becomes audible. Gradually, the significance of the disappearing leaves becomes clear—fading and reappearing in a continuous cycle that neither stops nor slows. Visitors witness a process that is ongoing, indifferent, and unbroken, echoing the reality of deforestation itself.
What begins as an aesthetic encounter becomes an awareness of loss..
Antoine Arnault (LVMH), Audrey Azoulay former Director General Unesco, Thijs Biersteker at IUCN conference 2021.
‘Wither’ at FestivalX Dubai (UAE) 2023
MATERIALISATION
Each digital leaf is made from a material that becomes transparent when an electrical current is applied. This allows every leaf to appear or disappear in direct response to incoming data. The work is continually updated with new data from UNESCO, ensuring that its behaviour reflects the present state of the forest, not a simulation, but a live portrait of loss.
Wither has evolved through multiple iterations over the years, from a 7-meter hanging version to a 1m³ cube. Each adaptation is designed to respond to its environment while maintaining the core concept: the translation of real-time forest disappearance into a perceptual experience.
IMPACT
Wither has been exhibited globally, offering audiences around the world a direct encounter with a crisis that is often distant from their daily lives.
It has been presented at:
IUCN World Conservation Congress, Marseille (FR)
COP16, Cali (CO)
Barbican Centre, London (UK)
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (DE)
Art Taipei (TW)
and numerous other locations.
Across 7 major versions and 15 exhibitions, the artwork has engaged policymakers, scientists, cultural institutions, and the general public, helping to make the urgency of rainforest protection visible, immediate, and personal.
Wither continues to evolve, reflecting both the changing state of the Amazon and the ongoing need to understand the consequences of its disappearance..
| Electro-responsive leaf components | |
| Sensors and data input systems | |
| Custom software | |
| Custom control box | |
| Recycled steel structures |
| EXHIBITIONS |
| Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (CN), 202 |
| COP16 Cali (CO), 2024 |
| Nature House, COP16 Cali (CO), 2024 |
| FestivalX Dubai (UAE), 2023 |
| Barbican Centre London (UK), 2022 |
| Art Tapei (TW), 2022 |
| Muce Circulair Antwerpen (BE), 2022 |
| Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (DE), 2021 |
| IUCN Congress, exhibition Biocenosis21 in collab. with Unesco x LVMH (FR), 2021 |
| RE-Nature in Den Bosch (NL), 2021 |
| Paris Fashion week in collaboration with Daily Paper (FR), 2019 |
INTRODUCTION
Rainforests are disappearing at a rate that is difficult to comprehend from afar.
The loss happens leaf by leaf, tree by tree, across vast regions that few people ever see, yet the consequences ripple through global climate systems and biodiversity.
Wither transforms this distant loss into a presence that unfolds directly in front of the viewer. Working with researchers Paulo Massoca (UNESCO) and Sacha Siani (Indiana University Bloomington, USA), the installation draws on real-time deforestation data from the Brazilian Amazon. Every flicker of a leaf marks the loss of an area of rainforest being lost at that exact moment.
By making the disappearance visible in real time, the artwork reframes deforestation not as an abstract statistic but as a continuous process, one that is happening now and is ongoing, relentlessly, regardless of whether it is seen.
SCIENTIFIC INSIGHT
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has accelerated in recent years, driven by agricultural expansion, illegal logging, mining, and land-use change.
These pressures degrade ecosystems, destabilise the climate, and limit the forest’s ability to regenerate (Butt et al., 2023; Ribeiro et al., 2025).
Wither draws from the latest deforestation data provided by UNESCO. This data determines the behaviour of every leaf. Each flicker marks the loss of the number of m2 being lost at that moment.
By translating raw environmental data into movement and disappearance, the work exposes how deforestation unfolds on a scale too vast for the human eye, and how each moment of loss shapes the forest’s ability to recover.
Image and video
Thijs Biersteker, Woven Studio
Research
Scientific context supported by Butt et al. (2023) and Ribeiro et al. (2024).
| IMPACT | |
| 4 | Iterations on artwork |
| XX | Media coverages |
| 11 | Exhibitions |
| XX | In-Person Engagement |
| XX | Collaborations |