‘Requiem for the arboreal world’

End Game

Porto Ercole Italy

2021

‘Requiem for the arboreal world’

The metallic artifact, a mirror of our essence, finds support in the arboreal, symbolizing how trees have elevated us to our present state. Alas, in the modernity we inhabit, the significance of trees has often faded from our awareness. Bygone eras recognized their indispensability, as trees served as the very bedrock of existence. Homes arose from their trunks, food was prepared upon their embers, warmth was drawn from their flames, metal was forged with their timber, boats were masterfully crafted, medicines derived, and the air we respire, as well as the ecosystems we thrived upon, all owed a debt to these venerable beings. In essence, one cannot help but wonder where we would find ourselves bereft of trees.
Throughout the ages of metal, from the bronze era to the Iron Age, the embers of wood fueled our progress, until the advent of the industrial revolution when coal usurped the throne as the principal source of energy. Yet, let us not forget that coal itself constitutes the fossilized remnants of trees from epochs past. Presently, power stations and blast furnaces remain reliant on trees, as petrol stands as a testament to liquified flora from ages past, powering metal-clad contraptions of the skies, seas, and roads.
Thus, it is the arboreal essence, whether long deceased from eons ago or vibrantly alive amidst our present, that imbues us with the ability to lead the lives we do and harness the prowess of nature, representing the very cornerstone of technological progress. In this profound reciprocity, humanity dances inextricably entwined with the arboreal realm, forever entangled in a dance of coexistence.

END GAME Curated by Luia Corsini and Georgina Pounds at Orto Botanico with Galeria Hilario Galguera