“The FOREST”

Abstract

Cocuration of exhibition. The Arboreal Collective, in collaboration with Lab for Animation Research, Department of Fine Arts, Cyprus University of Technology presented their first project entitled The Forest at the NeMe Arts Centre. THE FOREST Exploring the anatomy of selfhood through nature and technology may at first glance seem contradictory due to a long-standing narrative within contemporary culture that often focalises a regressive relationship between science, the natural world, and people. Taking this as a point of departure, The Forest proposes a collaborative space that reimagines this relationship via an altered, modern, more hospitable lens that invites intimate expansion through healing. Redressing imbalances on a cellular level is in some respects akin to the slow art movement philosophy, which calls for audiences to develop a more mindful relationship with art (https://www.artdex.com/slow-art-movement-how-the-artworld- relearns-art-appreciation/). In this vein, the project invited contributions by Cypriot and international artists that suggest gradual changes in these perspectives via an exhibition, educational talks, and interactive workshops. As a comparative study of people and trees, this exhibition continues to explore humanity and its complexities within the context of nature. Utilising new technologies such as artificial intelligence alongside a long-standing love of trees to create these conceptual transplantations, the project holds space for vital experiments to be made between the oldest and newest living beings. Recent scientific inquiry is aligning itself with a longestablished belief in the sophisticated communication network, with which trees engage to sustain and nurture each other. As social beings, they behave collectively and protectively. Trees have a language, family, sensory capacities, live in symbiosis with other species and climatic influences, and can count and remember. This vital discovery of plant intelligence could provide some answers to many of today’s environmental challenges. As a means of exploring the nurturing potential between humanity, nature and technology, this exhibition gives equal weight to all three by interweaving the narratives they convey through a primitive/scientific discourse that comes at a crucial time in which we all need saving. Dr Frosoulla Koftero