L’Arbre-Soleil (The Tree of Light)

L’Arbre-Soleil – The Tree of Light – has arrived in Penang as part of Novembre Numérique (Digital November)! It’s an immersive sensory art experience by French studio ONYO which takes you into the heart of an enchanted forest to witness and participate in the regeneration of a thousand-year-old tree.

In a world where our lives are dominated by screens, l’Arbre-Soleil seeks to awaken our other senses through immersive sound and integrated breathing. Ultimately, it’s a call to regenerate and reconnect us with the living ecosystems that surround us.

The installation is created by ONYO founders and artists Charlotte-Amélie Veaux and Yann Garreau. It’s presented by Penang Art District, with sponsorship from the Institut Français and Switch / Urban Republic, supported by PETACE, the Embassy of France in Malaysia, and the Alliance Française de Penang.

Visitors sit in a circle around a luminous sculpture. A mediator welcomes you and presents the myth. You put on headphones, close your eyes and are transported to another world, to the heart of a magical forest.

With the help of binaural 3D sound technology, the interactive sculpture and a breathing exercise, you are immersed in the ritual of the narrative and emerge from it soothed.

French Heritage Trail x L'Arbre-Soleil

From a sacred space of the 18th century to a sacred space of the 21st... In partnership with Penang Hidden Gems, we present a special edition of our French Heritage Trail combined with L'Arbre-Soleil.

 We'll follow the footsteps of the earliest French arrivals in Penang and the enduring institutions and ideas they established - including the Church of the Assumption and St Xavier's Institution - before ending up, two and a half centuries later, at the latest French concept to arrive here with L'Arbre-Soleil.