De-Stressed Tree
2018
Nova Cvernovka, Bratislava, 2018
A wooden platform around a tree, plastic tubes, people reading to the tree
There is a tree in the middle of a playground at Nová Cvernovka that is suffering from stress. This is apparently caused by children and adults running around it and making the soil around the tree too compact. As a result, the rain cannot seep into the ground to reach the roots and the tree is drying out.
A wooden platform has been made around the tree. The platform is constructed out of scrap wood from the huge pile of construction waste from the Nova Cvernovka renovations. The rain can reach the ground through the gaps between the wooden boards.
This wooden platform is a bench, a space to lie under the tree and a shield to limit the access of people to the tree. The platform is designed in collaboration with Peter Kvanta.
Members of Nová Cvernovka and visitors were invited to sing and read aloud selected texts, poems and songs to the tree. The tubes attached to the tree branches canalized sound to all parts of the tree. Since the tree is drying out, texts focused on hope and a positive future were selected.
Curators of the project: Maja and Reuben Fowks Curator of Nasuti Festival Nová Cvernovka: Diana Klepoch Majdáková
Selection of texts and books: Viktor Suchý, the librarian of Kabinet Pomalosti(slowness) at Nová Cvernovka.
Photographs by: Viktor Suchý, Polonca Lovšin, Nova Cvernovka
