GABRIELA ALBERGARIA – Dead tree (waiting)

Press Release

Dead tree (waiting) is a tri dimensional, site specific work of art, permanently located at Oxford Harcourt Arboretum, UK, since 2010.

It is an attempt to create a moment of observation of nature fading.

A shingle oak that was going to be cut down at Harcourt Arboretum was chosen. It was then cut down and relocated to a previously selected area, which is surrounded by different areas: an evergreen forest area, a bush area that blossoms in Spring and a deciduous forest area.

The oak’s trunk was vertically buried up to the base of the crown. It does not touch the ground, so that the degradation process happens from the crown’s branches down, ideally.

The work of art is closely inspected by gardeners, so that each time a branch rots, endangering the surrounding branches, it will be cut and placed on the ground exactly as if it had naturally fallen down.

Ideally, time will bi dimensionally recreate the the dying tree on the ground.

A metal plate marks the work of art.

Dead tree (waiting), 2010
Shingle oak buried up to the base of the crown

The shingle oak (Quercus imbricaria) was introduced into Europe by John Fraser in 1786.
shingles or roof tiles are made from cleft sections of this wood in the United States of America, where it is a native species ranging from Pennsylvania in the north to North Carolina in the south and west to Iowa and Michigan.

Commissioned by the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art in collaboration with the Harcourt Arboretum and with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.