Becoming the Forest
31 October - 3 November 2019
The View and Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge
Free, just turn up
Taking place on Halloween, when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, Becoming the Forest invites you to take part in an audio journey populated by the voices of previous forest dwellers and visitors.
At the threshold to Epping Forest, the tree-clad piece of land filled with stories, rumours and non-human beings, Becoming the Forest presents a sound-based installation at Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge, celebrating the oncoming winter.
Join past forest dwellers including Boudicca, Jacob Epstein and Algernon Blackwood, as well as the voices of the trees themselves, and expect incantations made up of Ogham and tree DNA sequences, dark folk, beech tree divination, tree-biologists and forest historians, black metal screeches and field recordings of the forest. A special commission by artist Una Hamilton Helle.
The installation will mark the launch of Becoming the Forest 3, an independent zine which looks at how the aesthetic and philosophy of the musical subculture of black metal has become entangled with the topography of the forest. The zine will be available to purchase at Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge for the duration of the installation.
Join us for the installation opening
Thursday 31 October, 7.30pm
On this evening of thresholds Una Hamilton Helle will hold a short ceremony for the opening of the installation and to transition into the dark period. Please join us at the edge of the forest, where we will look to the trees to celebrate that which has passed and that which is yet to come.
Becoming the Forest is part of The People's Forest season - a series of events exploring our relationship with Epping Forest, interrogating the deep bond we have with forests and woodland, and how this relationship is culturally determined.
Image credit: Una Hamilton Helle
Event categories:
How to get there
Venue: The View and Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, 6 Rangers Road, Chingford, London, E4 7QH
By bus: 97, 179, 212, 313, 379, 385, 397, 444, N26
By train: Chingford (London Overground)
Who's Involved
Una Hamilton Helle
Norwegian artist Una Hamilton Helle's artistic practice concerns itself with where and how we locate and create meaning for ourselves. This enquiry is inspired by periphery belief systems and subcultures where concepts of the real and imaginary are often intermingled. A lingering theme in her practice is that of landscapes and topographies, geographical and fantastical, and how they shape identities whilst simultaneously and consciously being used to further ideological purposes. Una's practice is a search for different ways to inhabit reality.
Becoming the Forest
Treading the arboreal pathway through the backwoods of black metal;
Becoming the Forest is an ongoing arts project which looks at our relationship to our surroundings, with a specific focus on the forest and how the aesthetic and philosophy of the musical subculture of black metal has become entangled with this topography. The project seeks to counter the anthropocentric interpretation of the world and has through the form of art works, exhibitions, gigs, talks and publications touched upon the links between nature, music, science and folklore. Issue 3 of Becoming the Forest will be on sale at the installation.
