_Greenwood_Tree_

Taking its inspiration from the pastoral literary tradition of ‘As You Like It’, Greenwood by Ludic Rooms is an interactive digital arts installation that explores the relationship between art and nature. Suspended from a tree in the historic orchard of Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, hang a series of ligneous cylinders, partially turned from wood found on site. They appear to grow, the tree’s augmented fruit. As you approach you hear a whisper, a hidden voice suspended in the branches, it beckons you closer. ‘Come Hither’.  A series of sensors detect your presence and movement, triggering a multi-layered soundscape of words and sounds, inspired by the bard’s verse and the setting of the cottage gardens. As you touch the tree, sounds emerge from tiny speakers embedded within the hanging sculptures.

The trees become books, the verse hanging in the branches.

The Greenwood Tree was commissioned by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust with support from the Happy Museum Project as part of ‘Sounds in the Garden’.