Treespotting AR (TSAR): Re-Enchanting Minimal Phygital Ecologies

In times of digital abundance, Treespotting AR (TS$^{AR}$) challenges the hyperrealism of technocratic digital twins and XR applications. Learning from Cesare Leonardi and Franca Stagi's experimental graphics deployed in their seminal work "The Architecture of Trees", TS$^{AR}$ translates their reductionist logic into a monochromatic point cloud installation. By minimizing data to maximize phenomenological engagement, the project explores new forms of mediated encounters with urban nature. Field-tested by 430 participants, the installation demonstrates how abstract visualization can foster reflection about the multiple formalizations of AR while investigating speculative and participative design, proposing a shift from managerial data to embodied, phygital encounters.