TREES OF ROTTERDAM



A SHORT FILM BY ALICE LADENBURG AND OLLIE PALMER



















Trees of Rotterdam



Synopsis
Press images
Screenings
Trailer
Film-making process
About the directors
Credits

Contact
Download press pack




Synopsis



A breathtaking journey through the skies, streets and trees of Rotterdam, telling the story of past, present, and possible futures of trees in the city.

Filmed in a single shot, captured using high-tech point cloud scanners, the film takes the audience through the cityscape from a series of unique viewpoints. The camera moves over, under, and through the urban environment, whilst narration from experts (an architectural historian, a tree advocate, a naturalist and the city council tree expert) offers insights into how the urban and natural can co-exist.

In these times of environmental catastrophe, what can we learn from nature that already surrounds us? This film asks the audience to question their own relationship with trees: When’s the last time you really looked at a tree?



Images


Rotterdam Coolsingel
Travelling inside London plane (Lijnbaan)
Atlas cedar (Heemraadssingel)
London plane (Lijnbaan)
Lijnbaan
Burgermeister Hoffmanplein

  
Screenings


CURRENTLY SHOWING


12 July – 22 September 2024
A Tree (exhibition)
Onomatopee, Eindhoven
More information


Upcoming

19-20 September 2024
Playgrounds Festival, Rotterdam
TICKETS



Past

Friday 26 January 2024, 16:30
LantarenVenster 2, Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
with Q&A SOLD OUT

Friday 26 January 2024, 21:30
LantarenVenster 1, Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
with Q&A SOLD OUT

Tuesday 30 January 2024, 21:00
Worm, Rotterdam
with Q&A, as part of ARTxIFFR SOLD OUT

Thursday 01 February 2024, 13:30
Cinerama 2, Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
with Q&A  

Friday 02 February 2024, 19:00
Podium Islemunda - Filmzaal, Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
with Q&A SOLD OUT

Saturday 03 February 2024, 11:00
Podium Islemunda - Filmzaal, Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
SOLD OUT

Wednesday 15 May 2024
Worm, Rotterdam
Off Screen X Art Office SOLD OUT

Saturday 8 June 2024, 20:00
Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam
Part of Rotterdam Architecture Month SOLD OUT

7 July 2024
Metropolis Festival, Zuiderpark Rotterdam SOLD OUT





Technical information


Runtime
12 minutes 35 seconds

Formats
4k DCP / Apple ProRes

Language
English

due to fine details within the pointclouds, the film must be run from a ProRes/DCP file

Trailer

Film-making process


Laser scanning


Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) is a technology that uses laser pulses to create ‘point clouds’ to collect measurements, and in the process capture a detailed 3D structure of an environment. This technique is increasingly used in tree measurement, making for innovative and in-depth studies of forested environments which contribute to new environmental understandings. 


Point clouds 

Working with Jens van der Zee at Wageningen University, we took scans of fourteen trees in Rotterdam for Alice’s book. Whilst looking at the resulting point clouds, it was clear that the TLS machines captured the surrounding area—buildings, bridges, parks—in incredible, millimetre perfect detail. Trees took the form of architectural monuments in their own right; a fundamental part of the city. 

Five tree scan-series were stitched together to create a 3D map of Rotterdam; a vast scene that could be navigated and filmed with a virtual camera at all angles in virtual space. This enabled exploration that would be otherwise impossible—even using the most advanced drone technology—using a one-shot movement that captured the dynamism of the trees in their environment, and so creating an unprecedented multi-layered narrative of the trees in Rotterdam.



Expert interviews


Four experts were interviewed to give their different perspectives on trees in the city; an architectural historian, a tree advocate, a naturalist and the city council tree expert. We wove together their stories, along with a series of thought-provoking questions. This offers the viewer multiple ways of understanding and thinking about the natural-urban environment, whilst exploring the city from above and below. 

Experts: Herman van Bergeijk, architectural historian TU Delft / Ronald Loch, tree expert, Municipality Rotterdam / Kees Moeliker, Director of Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam / Charlotte van der Heiden, Cool Down City.



  



Terrestrial Laser Scanning equipment

Caption 2
Jens van der Zee scanning trees at Hoffmanplien, Rotterdam



Exploring pointclouds in a virtual environment

Directors






Alice Ladenburg


Alice Ladenburg is an artist and researcher based in Rotterdam. Posing questions concerning the nature of individual observation and knowledge, she combines auto-ethnographic research with scientific methods to foster a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the world we live in. She often works collaboratively and across disciplines presenting work at institutions including: Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University; School of Geosciences, Edinburgh University; RADIUS Center for Contemporary Art and Ecology, Delft; Amsterdam Research Institute for the Arts & Sciences, Amsterdam University of the Arts; WAAG FutureLab, Amsterdam.






Ollie Palmer


Ollie Palmer is an artist, filmmaker, and educator based in Rotterdam. His work critically questions technology and control systems through designing absurd machines, software, films, and performances, which have been exhibited in galleries and film festivals worldwide. He was artist-in-residence at the Palais de Tokyo’s research lab, and holds a PhD by Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL. He has taught in leading art and architecture schools in the UK, the US, and the Netherlands, and is currently a researcher in the Situated Art and Design group at the Centre for Applied Research in Art, Design, and Technology.


olliepalmer.com


Credits

A film by

Alice Ladenburg and Ollie Palmer



Featuring the voices of

Herman van Bergeijk
Architectural Historian, TU Delft

Charlotte van der Heiden
Director, Cool Down City

Ronald Loch
Tree expert, Municipality of Rotterdam

Kees Moeliker
Director, Natural History Museum Rotterdam

Adriaan Wormgoor
Voiceover for Ronald Loch

Phoebe Ladenburg



Written, produced, and directed by

Alice Ladenburg and Ollie Palmer



Original concept

Alice Ladenburg
From the book Fourteen Trees of Rotterdam (2021) by Alice Ladenburg, published by The Printroom Rotterdam and Peter Foolen Editions

Voiceover sound recording

Ollie Palmer

Phoebe Ladenburg



Location audio recording

Alice Ladenburg

  

Scanning undertaken and processed by

Jens van der Zee
Laboratory for Geo-information science and remote sensing, Wageningen University

Scans originally collected for

Fourteen Trees of Rotterdam (2021) by Alice Ladenburg



Scan post-processing and visualisation
cinematography and editing

Ollie Palmer


Made with

Blender



In collaboration with

Horse Chestnut
51.91403, 4.49585 (Burgermeister Hoffmanplein)
Aesculus Hippocastanum

Golden Rain
51.9122, 4.48426 (Leuvehooftpark)
Koelreuteria paniculata

Oriental plane tree
51.9206, 4.47994 (Coolsingel)
Platanus orientalis

London plane
51.9192, 4.47764 (Lijnbaan)
Platanus acerifolia

Atlas cedar
51.91548, 4.4545 (Heemraadssingel)
Cedrus atlantica



Supported by


Back to the top© Alice Ladenburg and Ollie Palmer 2023-24