December 27, 2020 by Niamh

December – Ant Forest – pushing back the desert

Slash Pine-Ant Forest( GFP on LB under UV in light )
Niamh Cunningham 2020 in collaboration with IPE Microbe Eco Art project.

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

UNChampions Earth Award

UN Global Climate Change

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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.

November 20, 2020 by Niamh

November- Dances with Trees

简体中文

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.

Ladybird of Dongxiaokou 6m40s video Niamh Cunningham 2020

Youtube link to video :

Youku link

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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!