Kaio (Burn), 2022

Virtual simulation, real-time weather data, installation with screen And VR, ambient light and sound

As part of Kaio (Burn), this simulation centers on a perpetually burning forest — a virtual environment that reflects, in real time, environmental data gathered from former wildfire sites in Cyprus. The density of smoke, ambient lighting, and atmospheric color within the simulation are driven by current temperature readings from these locations, tying the digital environment directly to ongoing climatic conditions.

This sensor-connected world is not a speculative or futuristic forest, but rather a representation of one that is already in a state of prolonged trauma. Visitors are not asked to interact with or “save” the forest, but instead to sit with its continual burning — a state shaped by live data and reinforced by the ambient visuals and soundscape that surround the installation. The virtual forest burns in sync with the rising and falling heat of real-world places that have already experienced catastrophic fire.

The work plays on the tension between distance and proximity: the screen offers a mediated view, yet the real-time data anchors it in the present. It explores the idea that ecological catastrophe is increasingly experienced through dashboards, streams, and simulations — events are witnessed more often in graphs than in person. The simulation thus becomes both a memorial and a warning, reflecting on the limits of remote empathy and the challenge of representing climate trauma through the lens of technology.

Here, human and machine perception converge in a space where witnessing becomes its own form of engagement — unsettling, ambient, and unresolved.