Gregor Božič
Monument aux arbres tombés / Monument to the fallen trees - Installation - 2021
presented as part of the exhibition Panorama 23
Installation
How do trees shape our perception of space in urban areas, how do they impact our ability to appreciate light and sounds? How do they define our idea of the common and of the shared? How does the emotional experience of the environment change when trees are cut down and get replaced by dead materials such as concrete and steel? And what kind of community abides in profit-driven structures that most often replace public areas where trees have grown before? The interactive audio-visual installation reflects on the value of trees as experiential and community-shaping constituents of our physical and mental space. The visitor is positioned in a symbolic, human-made gameplay frame, culturally approved on a worldwide scale – a basketball court. The setting invites the visitor to interact with the presence of trees and so reflect on individual's responsibility to advocate for nature in urban environments.
A stealthy monument to the fallen trees.
Gregor Božič
Gregor Božič was born in Nova Gorica, during the Sarajevo Winter Olympics. Filmmaker, cinematographer and researcher of Mediterranean pomology, his directorial debut Stories from the Chestnut Woods premiered at the Toronto international film festival TIFF in 2019. The film received numerous awards and was screened at more than fifty international film festivals subsequently. As a cinematographer he worked on films that have been shown and awarded at major international film festivals including Locarno, Rotterdam, Tribeca and FID Marseille. During the first year of the stay at Le Fresnoy, Gregor created a photographic installation Images de fruits rêvés par de vieux paysans en hiver, which was exhibited as part of the exhibition Panorama 22 – Les sentinelles in 2020.
