欢迎来到树之记忆宫殿，在这里你可以分享自己关于树的故事。
过去这一年是艰难的一年，我们中许多人都重新衡量了我们自身与自然的关系，无论是作为个人还是作为全球化社会的一部分。
在新冠大流行期间，我向世界各地的人们收集树木的故事，其中有诗人、画家、森林学家、树木学家、艺术家、儿童作家和其他各种各样的人。
你可以在 “树之记忆宫殿2020” 阅读这些故事。
如果你愿意分享一个关于树的故事，我很高兴把它加入到树之记忆宫殿2021中。我可以给你的视频加上中文字幕。
如果你的故事之后被选中参加展览或做成装置，我会联系并告诉你相关消息。
花一些时间想一想你想说什么，找到一棵好的树坐下来，把你的故事讲给我们听。不过还想提醒你一下，视频时长不超过60秒，这个时间非常短！
可以直接在这个平台上联系我，也可以在网站最后一页查询页面（ENQUIRE）上联系我。
我可以帮忙编辑并添加英文或中文字幕。请确保您的录音音质清晰。如果对此有任何问题，尽管提问。
Welcome to the Memory Palace of Trees, a place where you can share your tree story.
It has been a tough year and many of us have remeasured our relationship with nature, both as individuals and as a global society .
Throughout the pandemic I have collected tree stories from people all over the world, including poets , painters , a forester, a dendrologist , artists, a children’s writer and all kinds of other people .
You can see last years collection of stories in Memory Palace of Trees 2020 here .
This year the tree stories are in the form of a one minute video.
If you have a tree story to share I would love to add it to the Memory Palace of Trees 2021. I can add Chinese/English subtitles to your video.
If your tree story is later selected for future exhibitions or installations I will contact you to let you know.
Take some time to think about what you want to say , find a good tree to sit under and share your story. Just to let you know under 60 seconds is a very short time!
I can be contacted directly on this platform or on the last page the enquiry page on my website.
Really looking forward to hearing from you . Please ask if you have any questions about this.
Memory Palace of Trees is a socio -ecological art practice which invites your participating to tell a story (or give some kind of information) about Trees. It is a social enquiry of how to live better with the planet and with people and other living beings. You are cordially invited to tell me your story of a tree or trees. I would love to hear from you .
Web of fabulous grass, sucrose series, Niamh Cunningham 2018 In October 2019 after reading the Pulitzer prize winning book ‘The OverStory’ by Richard Powers I started my plans for the socio-eco art practice ‘The Memory Palace of Trees’. It began in January 2020 at a time when the pandemic was just about to reveal itself as the most urgent global emergency of our lifetime. The pandemic is very much part of our ecological crisis and how we ‘utilize’ the natural world. Throughout a most turbulent year, people worldwide have reappraised their relationship and dependance on the natural world. Many have turned to nature to claim a space of sanctity and sanity and some people have shared their stories with us in the Memory Palace of Trees.
Gingko Palace Sucrose Series 83 x 120 cm print on Aluminium Niamh Cunningham 2020 (week 15)Most of these are personal stories. Submissions came from a range of different people in the US, Europe, Australia and Asia including a children’s writer, poets, dendrologists, artists, a dancer, a forester, an ant forest app user, photographers, academics and more
Ginkgo Palace UV print on Aluminium 80 x 120 cm Niamh Cunningham 2020
…..many of these stories inspired the makings of new artworks .
Here is a one minute video clip of the artwork for the November tree story .
I want to say a huge THANK YOU to ALL contributors and I will be in contact soon to thank each of you properly. Your stories will act as important stations (or installations) in the Memory Palace of Trees and will be a part of larger future artworks
Chestnut – Park Tree Sucrose Series original Sucrose 50 x 50 cm Niamh Cunningham 2020 (week 12)
What is a memory palace?
This is a map of a physical space with ‘stations’ containing information you want to remember, these stations are arranged in a linear journey . Here is a link to a blog from last year : Journey Image and Space the Memory palace workshops.
Open Call for your tree story on video
Memory Palace of Trees will continue in 2021. This year the submissions will be in video format. If you have a story you can tell in less than a minute (less than 60 seconds), please find your favorite tree sit under it and video yourself on your phone telling the story. I can help with the editing and add the English or Chinese subtitles. Please ensure the sound quality of your recording is clear. If you are in Beijing I can come and video you if you wish. Please ask if you have any questions about this.
Looking forward to hearing from you. Please email me at niamh@niamhcunningham.com
Jinan Tree Song Sucrose Series, print on aluminium 158 x 120cm Niamh Cunningham 2020
Note : Slash Pine is one of the many species you can choose as your real life tree
We have a special tree feature for December Memory Palace of Trees ! We talk with Iris Ye who is a user of a green initiative embedded in the Alipay App. Ant Forest inspires over 500 million users to fine tune their daily habits by reducing their carbon footprint. The green energy acquired can then be used to ‘feed’ a virtual tree and grow to maturity. Once mature, you can then convert that virtual tree into a real-life tree planted by an NGO in an arid area of China.
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Launched in August 2016 Alipay Ant Forest encourages users to adopt low carbon activities such as: paying utility bills online, walking, or taking public transportation and renting a bike to get to work instead of driving. Also it encourages recycling old home appliances and clothes instead of throwing them in the landfill. You can also opt not to use single use chopsticks while ordering take-out food.
After a user logs on to Alipay Ant Forest, these low carbon habits can earn the user virtual green energy points that can then be used to grow a virtual tree on the user’s mobile phone. The interactive design in the app also allows a user to water his or her friend’s tree or plant a tree together with a lover or family members.
With enough energy points, the virtual tree can be converted into a real tree and planted in desertified areas in China, including Gansu, Qinhai, and Shanxi province, by Alipay and its philanthropic partners such as SEE Foundation (Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology). In the past four years, over 200 million trees have been planted in these areas.
Haloxylon ammondendron planted by Alipay Ant Forest in arid land, China
There are many types of trees a user can choose to plant, from Hedysarum Scoparium, Sea Buckthorn to Haloxylon Ammodendron, each needing a different amount of green energy points for real life conversion.
Alipay Ant Forest also enables users to check on their trees in real-time on their mobile phone. Electronic scarecrows are scattered in the Forest to shoot photos and sends them back in real-time. Ant Forest also organizes offline trips for users to visit their Forest in spring.
Iris Ye Dec 2020
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Slash Pine-Ant Forest 携手防治荒漠( GFP on LB media in visible light )
Niamh Cunningham 2020 in collaboration with IPE Microbe Eco Art project.
(*I will write more about the exciting IPE Microbe Eco Art Project in 2021)
I have started to use the Alipay Ant Forest App recently, I am trying to collect enough energy to plant a Salix Mongolica which appears to be an impressive desert tree. So far I have earned a humble almost two and a half Kgs of green energy.
If you are a user of the Ant Forest App and have some advice on how I might optimize collecting green energy for this app I would love to hear from you .
links for further reading
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(Many thanks also to printer Mr Xièbǎozhōng 谢宝忠from Ordos for the typeset units used in the above works which he kindly gifted to me in 2017 during the Paper Supreme Ordos exhibition, I am so pleased to be able to use them for these artworks. )
Memory Palace of Trees is socio- ecological art practice which invites your participation to tell a story (or give some kind of information) about trees. It is a social enquiry of how to live better with the planet and with people by sharing stories. Throughout 2020 various stories from different people have been posted here on this blog. For 2021 I will be videoing people telling a one minute tree story under their favourite tree here in Beijing. If you are not in Beijing you can send me your video and I will post it. You are cordially invited to tell me your story of a tree or trees. (email : niamh@niamhcunningham.com) I would love to hear from you.
Delighted to feature a tree dance story this month. I met Zhang Yi a month ago at a contact improv performance and was thrilled when she agreed to come to my favourite woods to help make a video. Special thanks also to Robert Harvey and Ciorras for permission to use the music for this video.
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I write this sitting under the shade of a big tree. I seem to have a natural connection. It is as if I want to protect it and at the same time be protected by it. But language can only go so far. I like to hug the tree and lean against it, as if giving myself to it. Sometimes when I lean on it, I feel a kind of steadiness, a kind of stability, a real type of support. Sometimes when I see it damaged, I also feel sad. Once I saw a pile of tree branches being cut down on the side of the road. Sometimes I see people wrapping light strips around them. I feel both helpless and apologetic… I like to hear their rustling sounds like copper bells when they are blown by the wind. I like watching them dance naturally with the wind.
Trees also have a slow steady flow of energy. By steadying myself for a while, I feel that my energy is also stable and orderly. Observing it, I see the silent tension of life. It’ s quiet growth can withstand time. I have to live with the four seasons. There are times the wind will move and the wind will be quiet.
I have a deep admiration for nature, and often a kind of joy. I feel that we belong to nature and we are part of it…
Contact and Improvisation:
Last winter I saw people moving freely while dancing in a way of communicating with each other, I saw people using their bodies to exchange weight, support, and play together. Being in a relaxed state in the present moment allows “Contact Improvisation” to happen. I see a certain kind of “relationship”, between people and the environment, and between people and nature.” A state of symbiosis. Sometimes I dance alone in the empty playground, in the soft ground, under the tree, in the sun, I feel both “independent” and “dependent”. Since I was young, I used to watch myself dancing in the mirror .I vaguely remember this blurry image of my younger self moving. The body may be my first home. I live in it in this way, watching my every move and slowly getting to know myself.
Zhang Yi Nov 2020
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Zhang Yi is an contact improvisation dancer here in Beijing , she has been a fitness instructor for the past ten years.
Memory Palace of Trees 2020 is socio- ecological art practice which invites your participation to tell a story (or give some kind of information) about trees. It is a social enquiry of how to live better with the planet and with people by simply sharing stories. You are cordially invited to tell me your story of a tree or trees. (email : niamh@niamhcunningham.com) I would love to hear from you. Throughout 2020 a story will be posted with either an artwork already made or perhaps your story will inspire me to make a new work!