Marco Miehling

A Tree is a Big Plant with a Stick up in the Middle exposes a tree trunk from Green Park, London in a transitional state. The work is under transformation, a process by which the object’s nature or appearance is converting into another form. 

For the first iteration of the work, the tree trunk was positioned on two concrete ramps at the Royal College of Art, where it was held in place with ropes attached to the building. The single components formed a hermetically-closed construction, holding itself together. After the exhibition, the tree trunk was returned to Hyde Park, although not as an object of nature, instead as an object of functionality. It was further transformed into a memorial bench – in remembrance to the first iteration – that is permanently installed in Hyde Park. 

By transforming the plane tree trunk from an object of nature, to a functional object within exhibition and public settings, one object can have different inherent purposes. For each iteration of the work, the underlying logical structure remains the same as the appearance, shape and functionality changes. 

The work is developed in cooperation with the Hyde Park Office, London.