RACHEL MOREND

Ex-castanea

Wooden branches, copper leaves, solar cells, motors, plastic, 2026

A few branches rest on the ground around the base of a dead chestnut tree, seemingly fallen from the trunk above. Leaves still hang from them, quivering constantly as if moving of their own accord.

Every now and then, the leaves shudder, set in motion by small solar-powered motors, creating the illusion of photosynthesis. Yet all the energy harvested by the panels is spent on mimicking life. With Ex-castanea, Rachel Morend questions the vanity of progress. Because however “clean” it may appear, the technology here neither improves nor produces anything: it simply cannot replace the role a tree plays within its ecosystem.

Morend’s installation blends into the landscape almost unnoticed, acting as an understated yet disruptive force, and making it harder to distinguish between the organic and the artificial. At a time when technology is heralded as a silver bullet for the climate crisis, the artist casts a critical eye on the place these systems now occupy within our environments.

Rachel Morend (CH, b. 1998*) lives and works in Switzerland.