Cyclogenesis
Cyclogenisis is a site-specific earthwork in progress at the Dundee Botanical Garden created by Adrien Segal. Located in an area where a grouping of eucalyptus trees were felled by extratropical storms Arwin and Barra during the winter of 2021-22, the earthwork commemorates recent storm events that have dramatically changed the landscape of the garden. Manifested from materials at hand, including the felled eucalyptus trees as a result of the storms, the artwork provides a space for visitors to experience cyclonic patterns and air movements by walking through and around the earthwork.
A related installation of small scale sculptural experimentations in clay, wax, cast bronze, carved wood, soil, wicker, and other found materials created during Adrien’s Fulbright fellowship at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design was temporarily installed in the Garden’s Living Lab.
​
​
Cyclogenesis: An Earthwork was created in partnership with US-UK Fulbright Scholar Adrien Segal and the University of Dundee Botanical Garden, with guidance from Dr. Graham Parton and Dr. David A. Hooper, scientists with the National Centre for Atmospheric Science
“Environments are constituted in life, not just in thought, and it is only because we live in an environment that we can think at all.”
Tim Ingold, The Perception of the Environment: Essays on livelihood, dwelling, and skill
^ Storm Barra viewed from space (NASA), Storm damaged tree at the Dundee Botanical Garden (Image by the
Artist), Downed trees in the aftermath of Storm Arwen (Source Forestry and Land Scotland)
^The area of the Dundee Botanical Garden that was damaged where Cyclogenesis now is installed.
“The damage caused by the storm was compounded by the fact that "sustained winds with gusts in excess of 90 mph were, unusually, from the north-east, affecting trees that do not normally have to yield to those winds." (Graham)
^ Sting Jet Model (EUME Train), An alternative model of frontal-cyclone evolution (Shapiro and Keyser)
“A sting jet is a meteorological phenomenon which has been postulated to cause some of the most damaging winds in extratropical cyclones.” (Wikipedia)
“Cyclogenesis is the development or strengthening of cyclonic circulation in the atmosphere. Extratropical cyclones form as waves along weather fronts before occluding later in their life cycle as cold core cyclones.” (Wikipedia)
^ Clay model of Cyclogenesis on view in the Living Lab installation.
^ The Earthwork viewed via satellite on Google Earth
“Organisms, in coordination with dynamic physical processes, have developed considerable influence on the earth’s planetary environment…. It is the ability of organisms to live on energy flows from the sun and to sort materials that makes the earth a pocket of negative entropy.”
​
- Howard Mielke, Patterns of Life
^ Installation with basketry and other artifacts, Cyclogenesis model in ceramic, wood carving in Mulberry wood harvested from the Botanical Garden, Cast bronze ball based on Coriolis Force in Earth’s weather patterns.
Works Cited / Further Reading
​
Beardsley, John. Earthworks and Beyond. New York ; London, Abbeville Press, 1998.
“Cyclogenesis.” Resources.eumetrain.org, 2020, resources.eumetrain.org/data/5/569/navmenu.php?tab=4&page=1.0.0. Accessed 12 Sept. 2022.
“Cyclogenesis.” Wikipedia, 6 Sept. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclogenesis. Accessed 10 Sept. 2022.
Ingold, Tim. The Perception of the Environment : Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. London ; New York, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2000.
Dewey, John. Experience and Nature. Editorial: New York, Dover Publications, 2018.
“Data Physicalization - Data Physicalization Wiki.” Dataphys.org, 23 Aug. 2017, dataphys.org/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2022.
Graham, August. “Storm Arwen Power Cuts “Made Worse by Wind from Unusual Direction.”” Evening Standard, 7 Dec. 2021, www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/boris-johnson-mps-met-office-graham-b970442.html. Accessed 10 Sept. 2022.
Marshall, Dorothy. “Carved Stone Balls.” Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 108, 1979, pp. 40–72, soas.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php/psas/article/view/8959. Accessed 10 Sept. 2022.
Mielke, Howard W. Patterns of Life : Biogeography of a Changing World. Springer, 1989.
Sandie, Colin. “Storm Arwen: The Aftermath.” Forestry and Land Scotland, 21 Dec. 2021, forestryandland.gov.scot/blog/storm-arwen-aftermath. Accessed 10 Sept. 2022.
Shapiro, M.A. and Keyser, D. On the structure and dynamics of fronts, jet streams and the tropopause. Extratropical Cyclones: The Erik Palmén Memorial Volume, C. W. Newton and E. O. Holopainen, Eds., Amer. Meteor. Soc. 1990. pp.167-191.
Squier, E. G., and E. H. Davis. Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley : Comprising the Results of Extensive Original Survey and Explorations. New York, Cincinnati, Bartlett & Welford ; J.A. & U.P. James, 1848.
“Storm Arwen: Tens of Thousands of Trees Toppled and Dangerous.” BBC News, 30 Nov. 2021, www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-59481440. Accessed 12 Sept. 2022.