Fiesta del Árbol (Festival of Trees)
--- in collaboration with Sara Yaoska and Caterina Miralles
Fiesta del Árbol: Replay is an invitation to explore Barcelona's multi-species communities through a route among the city's trees.
Participants were guided around the Parc de la Ciutadella and Parc de l’Estació del Nord by a map and a book that took you to specific trees. The book guided you through the histories, stories, mythologies and relationships of the trees with invitations to look, draw, write in response. At the last stop, a party awaited under a spiral of linden trees.
Across time and geographies, we have intimate histories with trees. Our woven relationships trace complex stories. Our relations with the land through ritual, care, migration, trade, war, have shaped us and in turn we have shaped the land: moving, cutting, using, eating, claiming, planting. Each tree chosen for this route tells a different story.
--- in collaboration with Sara Yaoska and Caterina Miralles
Fiesta del Árbol: Replay is an invitation to explore Barcelona's multi-species communities through a route among the city's trees.
Participants were guided around the Parc de la Ciutadella and Parc de l’Estació del Nord by a map and a book that took you to specific trees. The book guided you through the histories, stories, mythologies and relationships of the trees with invitations to look, draw, write in response. At the last stop, a party awaited under a spiral of linden trees.
Across time and geographies, we have intimate histories with trees. Our woven relationships trace complex stories. Our relations with the land through ritual, care, migration, trade, war, have shaped us and in turn we have shaped the land: moving, cutting, using, eating, claiming, planting. Each tree chosen for this route tells a different story.
Fiesta del Árbol: Replay took place on the 30th of April 2023, exactly on the 124th anniversary of the first ‘Fiesta del Árbol’ in Barcelona, from which it borrows its name. The latter was organised by a forest engineer who believed in recognising the importance of trees in a country where forests were widely being destroyed. For this, children and teachers gathered together in Parc de la Ciutadella to celebrate the trees of the city.
The project was part of the Model+ activities for Model. Festival d'Arquitectures de Barcelona 2023 curated by Eva Franch i Gilabert.
The project was part of the Model+ activities for Model. Festival d'Arquitectures de Barcelona 2023 curated by Eva Franch i Gilabert.
(photographs by Andi Icaza and myself)
April 2023