Arbores Laetae (Joyful Trees)ARBORES LAETAE(JOYFUL TREES)

Arbores Laetae (Joyful Trees) is a landscape intervention on an urban brownfield site adjacent to an arterial route into the Liverpool city center. Seventeen hornbeam trees are planted in a grid pattern to create a small shaded grove. Three central trees rotate slowly to disrupt the formality of the grid.

These three trees are planted eccentrically, with a ten-degree vertical bias, in deep planter box–turntables. The turntables rotate at the same speed—synchronized to prevent the trees from brushing against one another. The planters’ changing orbits cause the space in the middle of the grove to gradually open and close, while the texture of dappled light and shade is in constant play. The experience is disorienting. From a vantage point atop a spinning platform, the context appears to shift. From terra firma, the trees uncannily move around and past you.

In this merger of nature with dynamic city life, trees no longer form a passive green backdrop but become protagonists on an urban stage. The project was intended to last only a single year, but the trees continued to grow and spin for a decade.

Arbores Laetae (Joyful Trees) was created for the 5th Liverpool Biennial, curated by Lewis Biggs.