“A Forest for the Trees,” an immersive art show created and directed by Glenn Kaino, with The Atlantic and Superblue – and music created by TV on the Radio’s David Sitek – opened on May 13 and will continue throughout the summer at Ace Mission Studios in downtown Los Angeles.
The show takes visitors on a journey through a surreal forest featuring animatronic performing trees, illusions of fire visitors can control and interact with, and multi-sensory storytelling within a 28,000 square foot space. The experience is inspired by the people closest to the forests and nearby neighborhoods: from an immersive interactive fire illusion referencing the controlled burns that are central to Native forest stewardship, to the symbolic resurrection of an iconic 144-year-old tree.
The show was created and directed by Los Angeles–based artist Kaino, who worked alongside Grammy-winning producer/musician Sitek as part of the duo’s new band project, HIGH SEAS. The show is inspired by The Atlantic series “Who Owns America’s Wilderness?” an environmental tradition at the 165-year-old publication which began with the work of magazine co-founder Ralph Waldo Emerson, and continued through the end of the 19th century, with national parks advocate John Muir’s writing.
Over the past year, Kaino has been working alongside an interdisciplinary collective of artists, musicians, tribal leaders, and environmentalists to bring the project to life. Kaino and his team also draw from more than a decade of deep research into the field of magic, including the production of Derek DelGaudio’s hit Off Broadway show and Hulu film In & Of Itself. Vance Garrett serves as executive producer, bringing his background in immersive theater, organized in collaboration with Superblue’s senior curator Kathleen Forde.
Kaino commented, “I have worked my entire career to build the tools and relationships that have allowed me to embark upon a project of this unprecedented scale and ambition, both conceptually and formally. Intergenerational problems of this magnitude require new thinking and new models about how we bring together traditional ecological knowledge and advanced technology. It is my hope that this show can provide inspiration into how to connect and contribute to some of the most pressing issues of our time, in a dynamic and exciting way that our audience can take home with them.”
The show is joined by a culinary experience from celebrated local chef Minh Phan of porridge + puffs and PHENAKITE, and a shop conceived and curated in collaboration with ThunderVoice Eagle’s Thunder Voice Hat Co., whose work explores conditions of memory and the sacred, carrying on the lineage of sustainable, hand-crafted Native fashion through unique collaborations between Native cultures.