A new immersive art show in Boyle Heights leads visitors through a surreal forest filled with animatronic robots, redwood trees and glimmering installations. A Forest for the Trees is the work of visionary artist Glenn Kaino and encourages audiences to reimagine their relationship with the natural world. In an interview for LA Times Today, Kaino talked about the show.
The show takes place in a 28,000 square foot warehouse that has been converted into a hidden forest.
"The audience finds their way into a large-scale forest installation [that is] divided into five different acts. Each grove of trees has its own story to tell, its own performance. There's original music, original artwork, and each piece has interactive elements so the audience can listen and learn, interact, play, wander, meander around. It's a collage of stories," Kaino said.
Kaino's inspiration for the exhibit came during a season of devastating wildfires that turned California's skies orange.
"A lot of climate change dialog is instigated by fear and not hope. I don't respond to fear, nor do I think many people respond to fear, even though we should be fearful. And so, for me, this project was really an attempt to have people begin to feel the idea and to feel passionate and reimagine our relationship to the issues, as opposed to be told about the issues as opposed to be scolded about our behavior regarding the issues. It's really meant to provoke a sense of inspiration and connectivity for us as storytellers, for us in action, in any capacity, and to find places for us to fit in into the dialog about climate change," he explained.
Kaino was born and raised in Los Angeles. He was able to incorporate the remnants of the Olvera Street tree into the exhibit, something that was very meaningful to him.
A Forest for the Trees runs through the end of the summer. Head over to aforestla.com to get your tickets.
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