There’s a new special exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Nature, and you won’t want to miss this one.
Inspired by Canadian Oscar-winning short film, The Man Who Planted Trees, the Canadian Museum of Nature’s newest exhibit was developed as an ode to the importance of trees, and its immersive, multimedia experience is ground-breaking.
The Man Who Planted Trees: An Immersive Tale at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Photo: Daria Maystruk
The experience was developed alongside Montreal creative design studio, Supply and Demand, based on Jean Giono’s 1953 tale. The story of shepherd Elzéard Bouffier, who watches as his trees grow into a lush forest in a barren valley of the French Alps, is told through immersive environments, interactive elements and excerpts from the 1988 Oscar-winning animated film by Frédéric Back.
“We’re excited to share this story about the importance of trees in a way that is novel and innovative for a museum,” says the museum’s President and CEO, Danika Goosney. “Trees play a critical role in maintaining a healthy ecological balance, and we hope visitors come away from this experience with a sense of hope and inspiration for a greener future.”
On Thursday, I joined other members of the media to experience the new exhibit. Immediately as I walked in on the fourth floor, I knew that this experience was one-of-a-kind.
Before you enter, you are greeted with informational banners about the importance of trees and the people protecting them in North America.
The Man Who Planted Trees: An Immersive Tale at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Photo: Daria Maystruk
Then, equipped with an audio guide and headphones, The Man Who Planted Trees comes to life further into the room. The walls, floors, statues, lights, sounds and music all play a part in bringing the viewer into the story, changing and molding to your location in the exhibit as you follow along on the 25-minute narrated journey.
When I asked about the inspiration behind the exhibition, Olivier Goulet, President and Founder of Supply and Demand told me that Back’s animated style stood out to them.
“We are always on the lookout for stories that can engage with learning and science. Our team specializes in that type of craftsmanship, where we’re not huge fans of hyper realistic digital … but our core team is really focused on feeling the hands behind the piece. So that sounded like a kind of perfect pretext,” he said. “The other piece is that I’m not seeing the day where we’re gonna have to stop talking about trees. As long as we live and we have a planet, this is crucial and essential.”
Certainly, the sketchy, almost story-book style of the story, in combination with more modern-looking visual representations of scientific facts were incredibly effective at distinguishing between narrative and science.
“We’re in the pursuit of building a new language with the support of museums,” Goulet says. “I truly believe that there is a way to engage people more with the story and get audiences to be more interested in science. I think here we’re really forcing people through narration to open their ears and their minds to the learning experience.”
The Man Who Planted Trees: An Immersive Tale at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Photo: Daria Maystruk
Isabelle Corriveau, Director of Content and Digital Strategies at the museum also added that this was “the perfect partnership” because they each brought their expertise.
“Museums are storytellers as well, right? It was taking this story, which is a fiction, and bringing it into today, and talking about the importance of trees, talking about these guardians of biodiversity, bringing up subjects like climate change and biodiversity loss, but bringing it with a message of hope,” she said. “That’s the underlying theme of the story, that message of hope. It’s the power of one person and all of the positive actions they can do.”
Walking through the final sections of the experience, I understood what Corriveau meant, and I’m sure you will too.
The Man Who Planted Trees: An Immersive Tale continues at the Canadian Museum of Nature until Oct. 13, 2025. Tickets can be purchased on the museum’s website. Note that this special exhibition has flashing lights, and may not be suitable for those sensitive to them.
.gif)
