Arboreal III

Curated by Fay Stevens, Fringe Arts Bath 2021

Free submission, email arboreal@fringeartsbath.co.uk, deadline Friday 14th May at 23h59

‘To be without trees would, in the most literal way, to be without our roots.’

Richard Mabey, Beechcombings: The narratives of trees

'Why are trees such social beings? Why do they share food with their own species and sometimes even go so far as to nourish their competitors?  The reasons are the same as for human communities: there are advantages to working together.'

Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel and How They Communicate

Arboreal brings together artists, academics, writers and scientists who are interested in and engaged with working with trees. Arboreal III is the third iteration of this curation with Arboreal I taking place at Salon48 (Bath 2017) and Arboreal II at The Priston Festival (Somerset, 2018).

Arboreal III will take the form of a digital weekend (Saturday 5th June-Sunday 6th June), a conceptual forest of events that will be planted in a digital location map. 

You are invited to submit thoughtful and sustainably situated performances, conversations, writings, projects, readings, presentations, film etc. 

Title and scope of the work (300 words max) 

1. Biography (300 words max)

2. Image of You 

3. Image of your work 

4. Links to your website and social media accounts. 

Arboreal Instagram @arboreal_curated

Arboreal Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Arboreal-100878418762756

Curator

Fay Stevens is an archaeologist, academic, writer, curator and artist.  Her work is a process of excavation; an unravelling of layers of time, memory and substance. It is a philosophical enquiry and experience, concerned with trace, elements, the senses, inscription and corporeal interplay. She draws upon and specialises in the philosophical school of phenomenology as a critical and performative lens through which she works.  Fay is a trained archaeological illustrator with a developed practice in conceptual drawing. She has held artistic residences in England, Scotland, Hungary and Spain, curated visual and performance art events at Arnolfini (Bristol), Salisbury (UK) and Bath (UK) and exhibited her work in the UK, Berlin and Sweden. This includes an AHRC funded project held at an arboretum in Somerset, UK (2015) which produced a series of tree drawings that have been exhibited (solo and group exhibitions) and published and a residency with Joya Air Arte+Ecologica (2017) which produced a series of exhibited tree-based drawing works that focused on hydrology and migration and exhibited film work and writings on wind.   Fay is artist and committee member for Bath Society of Artists, studio holder and former trustee at Bath Artists’ Studios, Associate Artist at 44AD Artspace and committee member and curator for Fringe Arts Bath. 

Website: https://faystevens.org

Instagram: @stillpoints