Objective

I am wishing to share within this art piece, a place which inspires the imagination, a place of intrigue and wonder for people. A space which can be both tranquil and amazing to experience.

Beneath the limbs and amongst the vast roots, people may sit and belong, thus providing a sense of connection with earth and sky, past and present, a place in which to weave the imagination. The tree of life is an interactive opportunity to marvel and to delight our sense, through light, texture and nature.

To express a varied/different perspective on space, time and destiny through the use of the Nordic Tree of Life ‘Yggdrasil’. While keeping with the fundemental principle of the branches and roots of the Norse tree linking the nine worlds or realms of the cosmos together, artistic interpretation will be heavily relied upon to fill in gaps. Incorporating a dazzling array of sculpture, lighting, projection mapping and water, this art installation will both amaze as well as induce self reflection of ones place within this universe.

Mythology:

Yggdrasil is an eternal green ash tree, the branches stretching out to encompass all of the nines worlds in Norse mythology. While some of the worlds reside in the higher heavens and branches of the tree, others are below; Yggdrasil is supported by three enormous roots, the first root leads to Asgard, the home of the Gods. Next to this root is Urds well, this is where the Gods were said to have had their daily meetings.

The second root from Yggdrasil goes down deeply to Jotunheim, the land of the giants, next to this root is Mirmir’s well. The third root goes to Niflheim close to the well of Hvergelmir. It is here the dragon Nidhug chews from Yggdrasil’s roots.

The tree of life is home to many animals, including the a great eagle who is bitter enemies with the Nidhug the dragon. Between them the squirrel Ratatosk runs up and down the great bole of tree spreading rumours between the eagle and dragon to keep them constant foes. This interaction between the animals will be accomplished with animations projected onto the tree.

Build Concept:

The tree will be built from a tall, square, cross braced steel structure surrounding an IBC containing a ton of water that will help provide weight and stabilisation at the base. Each of the three roots will hide the square structure which will provide further rigidity. The tree will be built in three modular sections to help with assembly, disassembly and transportation.

The first section is the base including the roots (tripod) and steel base for the IBC which will be filled with water on-site to add weight.

The second section, the trunk will be built from four steel uprights, clad in chicken wire then covered in hardened cloth to recreate the bark look. This method will also be used for the roots but with a wire mesh underlay over the steel frame to provide more rigidity to sit upon.

The third section comprises of the six limbs, the base of each limb will be attached to the main trunk by use of sockets welded to the main frame and then bolted through both the base of the limb and the socket to hold them securely.

Estimates of our scale model puts the height at 4.5m tall, with an equal width of the roots and canopy at 4 wide, giving it an estimated 25m2 coverage.

Each of the six limbs will have roughly six branches and then six sticks upon which the leaves will be attached. To maintain the look of the tree these figures will be altered upon construction to ensure the tree remains not too symmetrical. Roughly this gives 36 branches, 216 sticks and 3,710 leaves.