Alan Tod
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Forest Art - An art made of forest.

Here is a Landscape Art made of wild forests, planted forests or forest soil.

the Land-Art of Forest Art is integrating biology. Plants Sculptures, Soil-Art installations and Interactive Antropocene landscapes involving the community and the legislature. Practice of forest-art in the land consists of creating sanctuaries-monuments of wild life protected with the law of art, planting forests as sculpture-monument with a special look at *syntropy * , making soil installation to regenerate soil life and getting inside the practice of forest-art ( peeking seeds, plantings trees randomly) as an interactive landscape performance involving the community in bigger scale.

This practice defines the new anthropocene and questions the foundations of capitalist and patriarchal society by questioning the work of art and the notion of territory. What if the space suddenly belonged to the art work itself ? What if the forest itself was to be a work of art?

Started in 2019 : “Four lines for a dream” " 4 linhas para um sonho" planted forest, Miyawaki method, 1000 x 500 m. Cercal. Portugal. 2020-2030. The artwork (that is not architectural but monumental ) will mimic the wilderness in man-made predetermined conditions and deliberately chosen area and will be developed with bio-techniques inspired by the work of Japanese biologist Akira Miyawaki and his vision of a syntropic forest (2007). Fertility-island is here as bio-technique sculptures offering an interactive landscape ready for future landscape painting. It is about planting forest in lands as sculpture. The protocol to define those planted forest as a work of art becomes legal : by contract it is sold a sculpture made of forest that limits in the landscape some sort of island, drawing and painting a new horizon. A new legal statute for those forest now called “fertility islands” is to be created by the contract between the artist and the landowner, who recognizes the specific zone of the land as a work of art, and in that case, as a sculpture. The sculpture is planted in a land in Cercal- Portugal and the dimension is about 5 hectares. The sculpture is made of a precise list of trees : different oaks and other Fagaceae, bushes, flowers etc.

Started in 2017 : The Forest of the community of São Luís. In 2017 I started to sensitize the public around the village of Sao Luis in Portugal to make a collective forest. In 2019 we distribute a tree to land owners and we created a tree nursery and a compost bin for the village. Today the community is continuing this project and the memorial is there to remember this action of starting a forest as a work of art done by the community.

Started in 2016, Soil installations are used to support natural forest landscapes, parks or gardens. The biological purpose is to bring living soil to young trees, but also a collaborative support with other trees and plants. Methods found inspiration in permaculture techniques while looking for an aesthetic of soil.

Started in 2015, A studio is set up in a valley south Portugal, where vegetal sculptures are limited on the soil. The limit defines the sculpture made of plants. Then starts a dialogue with the owner of the land to keep the line of the sculpture or to let is spread.

2015 : Arqueta's Garden. Residency Painting and planting a garden. Algarve. Portugal. 2016 : Installation for soil in Póvoa e Meadas. Andanças Festival. Portugal. 2017 : Cultivamos Cultura 's Garden Residency. 2019 : Starting the community project of the São Luís forest, we organize a festival to federate land owners of the same village, we created a tree nursery and we build a team in the village to continue the tree delivery. The project continues in 2021 by the community. 2019-2021 : The Fertility Island project . Cercal. Portugal. With Cultivamos Cultura Residency. Portugal. 2019-2021 : The ready wild Island. Upstate New York. USA With Grace Exhibition Space New York and Rosekill Art Farm. USA.

“New Fountain” 2021 is a ready-wild Sculpture made of around 6 Acres of forest in the New York State, in the Hudson Valley. It is made of a precise protocol involving biology, cartography, contract law and intellectual property. This work of art introduces the use of the law to create art. “The work of art, here, creates the concept of forest-art as an expression of a transcultural artistic movement molded by a number of artists with plan-tropogenic practices. It is based on polymathic protocols to create spirit and totality, to undo colonialism and patriarchy, to heal capitalism”. “New Fountain 2021” is made by Alex Romania, Kim Doan Quoc and Alan Tod and sold to Jill and Eric Hokanson under the witness of John Halpern from the institute of cultural activism. https://youtu.be/pdecpr8yqBU
The forest coin : certificate of authenticity signed by the artists. The certificate of authenticity is in law just another signature of the artist to testify the work of art. It is the property a paper associate to a work of art. This certificate is the one of the sculpture "new fountain " made in Rosendale in the NY state. The certificate is pictured by artist and made into a NFT. The verification process is done by the artist who creates the work and archives the information of the position of the work and its owner. To store this information, the NFT is a means of archiving the work. This archive creates new value and allows artists to make works made of wild nature. It offers a new economy of nature protection. By copy this link you can purchase the NFT here : https://rarible.com/token/0xf6793da657495ffeff9ee6350824910abc21356c:1838132001929016864823349259909363669901206066522174796699303472084342013953
“Four lines for a dream” planted forest, Miyawaki method, 1000 x 500 m. Cercal. Portugal. 2020-2030.
Soil theater. In summer. Garden of Cultivamos Cultura. 2017-2020 www.cultivamoscultura.com
“Soil Theater, homage to what is hidden”. 2017- 2020. Durable installation : 3 triangles : 6 x 4 x 3 m /6 x 3 X 4 m / 80 x 60 X 20 m. Dead trees, wood from construction, woods stick, leaves, food waste, compost and natural material from the residence activity, trees, bushes, plants, wild flowers, cactus and succulents. The work of art is an interactive land art structure made of 3 triangles delimiting the ground of tree syntropic gardens. The small triangles contain trees, plants and compost made of waste food, wood sticks and garden waste. The main triangle contains a vegetal installation made with cub structures, wood sticks and recycled wood structures, stones and a stage (4 m x 4 m) dedicated for outside performance. The work is an homage for the garden of Quinta de Regaleira In Sintra as much as it is a critic of the anthropocentrism of our art and culture. Here the real spectacle is underneath. The bio-art lab of the residence allows to observe the evolution of the soil life and discovering the underworld theater. Cultivamos Cultura collection. São-Luís. Portugal.
"The new sculpture" 2017-2050. Sculpture : Dead palm tree, English and Goldchild Evy, Arbutus, 2 x Oak, 1 x Hazel tree, 1x Carob tree, 3x peach trees, 1x plum tree, 6 x succulent, 2 x aloe vera, 1x thyme and wild flowers. Around 6m x 4,5m x 3,5m. The technique is inspired from the work about syntropy from the biologist Akira Miyawaki. The sculpture is expected to reach its ‘point de rupture’ in 2050. As a monument of nature, it follows the lines of art history as an example of an allegory of nature. As a moving sculpture, the new sculpture questions the fundamental of architecture and of our Anthropocene. What if home was a tree ? “The new sculpture” places the artist as a nature-maker and places plants as art makers. It opens a new deal, a new economy and a new culture giving white cards to plants to spread as a work of art. Cultivamos Cultura collection. São-Luís. Portugal.
Performance : More than 3000 plants given to more than 30 land-owners. https://youtu.be/Txui61v_bwc This project is a collective project involving the community of São Luis village. In 2020, another tree distribution has been made. The artist has created a community with a tree nursery and has given to the village the tools to plant a collective forest in the region to regulate the climate.
Tree nursery for São Luís. In 2019, the artist and his collective help the village to get a tree nursery to develop the collective forest. Land-Owners can come and take trees for their land and pedagogic actions are made by Gaia Alentejo association.
Photography of a tree distribution in Sao Luis, the 9th of November 2019
photography : Since 2017 a project in Sao Luis Portugal is to help owner of land to plant forest in their own land by giving them trees and create community around festivals and artistic events. www.fiva.cc
Dead Beatle. Orange slice. Moss. Soils. Seeds. Cultivamos Cultura. Sao Luis. Portugal. 2017
Installation : Urban Compost , branches, seeds, straws, trees. : 300 x 150 m. 2016. Portugal. Andanças Festival. Portugal.
Installation : Urban Compost, branches, seeds, straws, trees. : 300 x 150 m. 2016. Portugal.
Installation : Urban Compost, branches, seeds, straws, trees. : 300 x 150 m. 2016. Portugal.
"Caddle for forest". Installation: Compost, oaks, seeds, soil, straw, branches, flowers. Portugal. 2016.
Bio-Land-art. Installation with 40 oaks trees and protection from predators. on the top of Foia Mountain. Started in 2016 and finished in 2017
oaks planted in Foia Mountain 2016-2017
Oak of Monchique. Planted in 2016. Foia.
Installation : Adobe wall, plantes, compost, tree, moss, flowers. Portugal. 2015. This is the first small art-work is in south Portugal in a farm in the Arqueta Valley, Monchique. This land art installation is made of one little tree ( medlar) that was present in the garden and was planted as a seed. The box is made of adobe and it contains plants and is covered by moss. South of Portugal is very dry so this installation has been made under a carob tree to show the collaborative behavior of trees.
Installation : Adobe wall, plantes, compost, tree, moss, flowers. Portugal. 2015.

Portfolio available on demand.

Last update: October 11, 2022