When the forest moves
Warren Quigley*
May 10 – July 30, 1995
Warren Quigley, When the forest moves, 1995; bronze text, trees; text trench approximately 30'L x 3'W x 4" D; trees approximately 12' H
Artist Statement
The predictions by the apparitions in Shakespeare's Macbeth foretell impending doom. In our time, apocalyptic scenarios constructed by science, informed by nature, warn us of the potentiality of future events.
It is foreshadowed that Macbeth's destructive ambitions and pride will only come to an end when the forest moves. An advancing army, using trees cut from a nearby forest as camouflage, moves the forest closer and closer, taking Macbeth by surprise. Historically, forests in our regions have slowly moved at 100 kilometres a century when following the receding glaciers in order to adapt. Now it is thought that by the year 2050, because of global warming, the sugar maple range could move as much as 640 kilometres north, well past the 49th parallel.
Physically, this installation takes the form of three medium sized maple trees, 7 - 9 metres high with the burlap-wrapped root bag intact, situated at the end of a sculpted earth furrow which seems to have been dug out by the northbound scraping movement of the tree. Contained in the furrow like residual trail is text cast in bronze; this text, in hand-written script, consists of the story of the advancing trees in Macbeth.
As much as Macbeth's downfall was a result of his arrogance, so too our own undoing may be a result of our perceived invincible intelligence, our undying faith in the all-powerful Techno-God, and our unwillingness to see the warning signs.
"That will never be, who can impress the forest, bid the tree unfix his earthbound root?"
- Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I
*See Warren Quigley in Greenroom
