I. Concept and Context

Tree of Life is a Net Art piece that embodies a profound reflection on life, time, and symbolic transmission in the digital age. Inspired by the archetypal image of the Tree of Life, both in its biblical and Kabbalistic dimensions, this work explores the intersection between the mystical, the organic, and the virtual. At its core, the piece articulates a metaphor for the human condition in cyberspace: every action, every digital presence leaves a trace that either nourishes or weakens the existence of a larger system.

Here, the tree is not merely a symbol—it is a digital being in constant growth, recording and manifesting the passage of time and collective interaction. The work invites us to reflect on how our seemingly fleeting decisions in the digital environment have tangible, transformative, and often invisible echoes.

This tree is not built in solitude: every user who visits it, every gaze, every absence, alters its ecosystem. Thus, the work turns the viewer into a participant, and the tree into a witness of a shared life cycle.

 

II. Structural Logic and Functionality

Tree of Life consists of 32 images that represent the progressive growth of a tree from its birth as a seed to its final state without fruit. This visual evolution is tied to real time and the behavior of visitors to the website.

• Internal calendar: The tree was symbolically planted on August 29, 2012, in reference to the birth of the artist’s son. Since that date, it has grown progressively, and in 2022 it bore its first apple, after completing ten years. From that point on, it produces one digital apple per year until reaching a total of 24 in the year 2045. After that, the tree will stop bearing fruit but will remain active in its adult state—visible, connected to the system, continuing to accumulate visits and existing as a living digital archive. This same calendar will apply to all trees generated from apples sold, each adapted to the date chosen by the new owner as the planting point.
• Maturation time: The tree requires a period of ten years from its planting date to produce its first fruit. This cycle, inspired by the natural growth of a tree from seeds, will apply to each new instance within the work’s ecosystem. After this initial period, the tree will begin to produce one apple per year for 24 consecutive years, thus completing its symbolic fruiting cycle.

 

Icon Features:

• Apples Grown: Every year after the tenth, one apple grows. The maximum number of fruits is 24, as an allegory to the 24 hours in a day, establishing a parallel between the life cycle and the daily cycle.
• Real-time Presence (Person Watching): Displays the number of people viewing the page at that moment. This function reinforces the idea of the work as a living, ongoing presence—ideally shown on permanent screens in both private settings and public exhibition spaces.
• Visits (Visits): Each visit symbolically increases the height of the tree by 1px and improves its health by 1%. Visits also influence the appearance or removal of pests.
• Sunlight (Sunlight): Calculated based on annual visits. Each visit adds 1% sunlight, resetting every January 1st. For example, 30 visits in one year equal 30% symbolic sunlight exposure.
• Height (Height): Represents the symbolic growth of the tree. Although it does not directly alter the tree’s visual appearance, each visit adds 1px to its total height as an accumulative record.
• Pests Found: If 7 consecutive days pass without any visits, a pest appears. If 7 consecutive visits occur, the pest disappears.
• Needs Water: This function allows the user to share the link via social media or direct message. It is an invitation to ‘water’ the tree through collective engagement.
• Plant your Tree: Each apple can be sold. The buyer chooses a special date to begin their own tree within a linked subdomain. In this way, a network of symbolic trees is created—functioning as living archives, personal memories, or digital monuments. Each owner can manage their plot and future transactions.

 

Digital Environment Conditions: In addition to the variables associated with the interactive icons, the work incorporates environmental elements that enrich the visitor’s sensory experience.

• Background Color: The page changes color every hour, simulating the sky’s transformation and accompanying the rhythm of daily existence.
• Ambient Sound: The soundscape varies depending on the time of day, creating an immersive experience that reinforces the connection between temporality and symbolic environment.

Note: During the development of the work, many features may be updated or modified. These changes will depend largely on technological evolution and feedback from user experience.

 

III. Kabbalistic and Esoteric Dimension

The name of the site, Etz Chaim, refers directly to the Tree of Life in the Kabbalistic tradition. This is not a decorative gesture, but the spiritual and structural foundation of the entire work. In Kabbalah, the Tree of Life is composed of ten sefirot (divine emanations) and twenty-two connecting paths, totaling 32 fundamental components that structure creation and the awareness of the universe. Similarly, Tree of Life is composed of 32 sequential images that represent the symbolic and temporal growth of the tree—from seed to adult state without fruit—mirroring a spiritual model of expansion and transformation.

The ten sefirot that shape the Kabbalistic system are: Keter (the Crown, or supreme Will), Chokhmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), Chesed (Mercy), Gevurah (Justice), Tiferet (Beauty), Netzach (Victory), Hod (Glory), Yesod (Foundation), and Malkhut (Kingdom). The fact that the tree requires ten years to bear its first fruit does not merely obey natural logic—it proposes a spiritual journey through these ten emanations before reaching the point of transmission: the first apple as a symbol of shared knowledge and attained maturity.

The twenty-two paths connecting the sefirot symbolize the internal routes of transformation, balance, and flow between different levels of being. These include the connections between: Keter and Chokhmah, Keter and Binah, Keter and Tiferet; Chokhmah and Binah, Chokhmah and Chesed, Chokhmah and Tiferet; Binah and Chesed, Binah and Gevurah, Binah and Tiferet; Chesed and Gevurah, Chesed and Tiferet, Chesed and Netzach; Gevurah and Tiferet, Gevurah and Hod; Tiferet and Netzach, Tiferet and Hod, Tiferet and Yesod; Netzach and Hod, Netzach and Yesod, Netzach and Malkhut; Hod and Yesod; and Yesod and Malkhut.

This mystical network is not only implicit in the number of visual stages of the digital tree, but also in the logic of its expansion through newly planted trees by other users. Each new tree becomes a personal interpretation of Etz Chaim, opening a universe of individual cosmologies that weave together the spiritual, the symbolic, and the technological into one organic digital network.

 

IV. Interactivity and Decentralized Value System

Tree of Life integrates a digital distribution structure based on a sales system that functions autonomously and outside traditional art market models. Each apple produced by the original tree can be acquired by a user, who not only obtains a unique piece within the work, but also the exclusive right to create their own tree within the platform.

This system establishes an expanding network of digital ownership, where each new transaction generates a chain of associated trees, all hosted within the primary domain etzchaim.art. The purchase of an apple represents a long-term investment in a unique digital asset, with scheduled temporal growth, public traceability, and potential return through future sales.

• Individual Subdomains: Each derived tree is developed in a personalized digital plot within the platform, allowing for individual identification, autonomous management, and continuous traceability.
• Owners (Farmers): These are the legal holders of each digital tree. They can select the symbolic planting date of their tree, view statistics, access their transaction history, and manage the availability of future apples.
• Royalty System: In every transaction, 20% of the sale value automatically returns to the creator of the work, establishing a transparent and sustainable model that recognizes the originator’s value.

The monetary value of each apple will be defined based on the tree’s stage and market conditions and may be adjusted over time. A progressive pricing table will also be implemented for those wishing to sell complete trees—whether in growth phase, bearing fruit, or in adult state. This pricing policy aims to maintain consistency within the digital ecosystem, safeguarding both the integrity of the work and the interests of its participants.

The detailed pricing table will be available within the platform and may be updated based on evolving, technical, and curatorial criteria.

 

Conclusion

Tree of Life is a work that inhabits the threshold between the spiritual and the virtual, between code and ritual. It is an expanded experience activated by time and community, built on principles of sustainability, memory, and transformation.

Its strength lies in the balance between the poetic and the technical—in its ability to offer an intimate, mystical, and at the same time participatory experience. Like any tree, it invites us to pause, contemplate, remember, and plant.

In times of immediacy, Tree of Life commits to slowness. In times of noise, it offers fertile silence—where every pixel is a seed, and every apple, a chance to rewrite life.