Seeing A Forest for the Trees

“A Forest for the Trees” is a multi-media installation that, like much of artist Glenn Kaino’s work, is conceptual, collaborative, has a moral and ethical dimension, and is a political call to action. The exhibition also brings together a novel marriage of sponsors: Presented by The Atlantic magazine and Superblue (a showcase for experiential art), the exhibition is sponsored by Mastercard.

Set in a 28,000 square foot warehouse in LA’s Boyle Heights neighborhood, “A Forest for the Trees,” is a reservation-timed ticketed 35-minute journey through a forest-like installation with specific set pieces, audio narration, visual effects and original music meant to make the visitor rethink their connection to nature and honor the traditions and ancestral knowledge of indigenous Native Americans as stewards of the land.

“A Forest for the Trees” is an immersive work of art that speaks to storytelling, illusion and magic-making, collaboration, environmental activism, Native American traditions and culture, and ethical systems that also speaks to current trends in popular entertainment, the monetization of experiential and conceptual works, the search for new revenue streams for artists and their representatives as well as for magazine publishers as well as sponsorship of unique memorable experiences for credit card holders. In other words, to truly see “A Forest for the Trees,” there is a lot to unpack:

1. The work.

The waiting area is the first installation: A collection of microphones on stands is grouped together as if at an old-fashioned press conference, while at the same time looking like a cluster of fire-burnt saplings. Certain microphones are broadcasting fragments of conversation by diverse people about their relation to trees. Behind the microphones is a quote from Black Elk: “And I say the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children….”

Once assembled at our appointed time, in a group of 20 or 25, we were met by our guide who, on the day I visited, was an ebullient young actress named Casey.

We were led into the first room, which is circular, where we stood in darkness as around us woodcut-like stylized illustrations by Ukrainian artist Kirill Yeretsky lit up the walls like being inside a zoetrope. The narrative, voiced by Jesse Williams (Grey’s Anatomy actor and civil rights activist) tells the story of a traditional Karuk Tribe ceremony of forest eco-system renewal (a cycle which involves controlled forest burns, rains and a pulse in the rivers allowing water to break through the ocean sandbars so that salmon can swim upstream and spawn). And then the story is retold, this time as a model of conservation explaining the hard science behind the legend.

We were next led into another darkened room to participate in a magic trick of sorts. We were asked to look first at our own palms with their demarcated creases and lines. Then we were asked to look deeply into a spinning Optical Swirl that seemed to tunnel in and out of its spirals. After which we were told to look at our own palms again, on which we could now see a vast network of veins, a symbol of our needing to be conscious of the vast interconnections among our natural world.

We were then led into the giant warehouse space, following a path resembling a nature trail, surrounded by some 87 trees (some fabricated replicas, some reclaimed trees ethically sourced from Northern California), we were led to four separate installations, each representing water, wood, fire and air (or in this case resurrection).

The first area presents as a deep well with water shimmering down its side. An optical illusion, it seems like the well goes down forever. You are encouraged to walk across the top of the well, a vertiginous experience, in which perhaps one can commune with the feeling of salmon swimming upstream. As one crosses over the well there is also a smile-inducing feeling of walking on water (without giving it all away, I will just say that a two way mirror is involved) provoking a sense of wonder. Haunting original music by High Seas (Kaino and Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio) voiced by Priscilla Ahn fills the space.

The second set piece involves a tall sculpture of one of the oldest trees known, a more than 4800-year-old bristlecone pine, whose exact location is hidden to protect it from interlopers (the oldest tree Methuselah was destroyed by a person who attempted to retrieve a drill bit that got stuck in the tree). If one can see a tree as standing with immense pride, this one does – with its trunk a mass of branches twisting upward, looking like an Italian Futurist sculpture by Umberto Boccioni. At the press preview, Kaino said that in conceptualizing this part he wondered, “What could this tree tell us if it could tell us what it saw?”

Kaino’s answer was to have the surrounding trees speak — through animatronic robotic heads he created. Two of the trees tell silly jokes (that nonetheless have teaching moments); and the other two trees talk about native stewardship of the land. Among the voices are the Native American comic Breanne Luger; the actor Joel McHale; the activist Ron Finley; and Robert Super, a Kanuk Tribe elder who is also a comedian; and finally, separate from those, we hear the words of Rodney Mullen, (If you have not seen the Tony Hawk documentary, Mullen is the Dalai Lama of OG skateboarders).

The third installation is made up of what looks like ascending rows of fire, simulating the spread of fires in a controlled burn, as well as the clouds of water moisture created in the process. The installation reacts to human interaction when you pass your hands through the fire or speak into the flames. There are incantatory vocals by singer Alice Smith; and leaning up against one of the surrounding trees is a portrait of Bill Tripp, the Director of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy for the Karuk Tribe, by Shizu Saldamando.

At this point, the call to action is becoming clear: In 1911, the US government banned all Native American forest burning ceremonies – with disastrous consequences, Kaino argues. This was the beginning of a very successful campaign to demonize fire, of which Smokey the Bear became the public face.

Accordingly, along the path between the areas Kaino has appended to the trees a collection of vintage US Government “Smokey Bear” posters (“Only You can Stop Forest Fires’) to which Kaino has responded with his own posters arguing for better land management. The idea here is not to appropriate Native ideas about forest management, but to acknowledge the Native knowledge and return the Native populations to being stewards of the land, along the lines of the Atlantic’s article “Return the National Parks to the Tribes,” by David Treuer. (Although, it needs be said that nature can never be truly controlled – several recent mass fires in New Mexico were caused by controlled burns that got out of control).

At the far end of the warehouse space there is a seating area made of benches of reclaimed trees from Angel City Lumber, facing the final installation, a massive tree sculpture Kaino calls “Resurrection.” Kaino came across the remains of the famous Olivera Street Fig Tree which collapsed in 2019 and has constructed a giant armature of steel cubes with glass fronts that can light up in an assortment of colors to hold the various pieces of the dismantled tree. Music and vocals by Kitty Harloe play as the lights move on the steel cubes. Using a Minecraft-like format, Kaino imagines the tree reassembled with the lighted cubes connecting the pieces –in an operatic light and sound show — signaling the resurrection of the Olivera Fig Tree, a metaphor for resurrecting our own appreciation of trees and the forests that contain them.

At this point, although one is free to remain and revisit the installations, the show/tour is complete and most head back to the lobby. The gift shop, it is worth noting, does not contain Kaino’s work but instead artworks curated by Thunder Voice Eagle as well as sustainable reclaimed blankets and hats.

2. Is “A Forest for the Trees” Art?

Part of the challenge of reviewing “A Forest for the Trees” is the hybrid nature of the work and being able to see it as an artwork, as an immersive experience, as a for-profit-venture, as a brand extension of The Atlantic, as social activism, and as a for profit-venture of Superblue.

When I first visited Kaino’s immersive experience, I was struck by the inherent contradictions of visiting a “forest” in a warehouse, of using reclaimed trees to stand as living trees in this manufactured environment. And it is further confusing that some of the trees are replicas. Beyond that dissonance, the animatronic heads on the trees were at odds tonally with the reverence expressed elsewhere. One person who attended my same tour felt the talking heads were too childish – too much like Disneyworld; while for me that same resonance, of childhood experiences at World Fairs and Disneyworld (i.e. like “The World of Tomorrow”) was comforting and signaled a didactic experience.

Similarly, when my first tour ended, I thought “Is that it? Should there have been more?” I wondered if people would feel that they were getting their money’s worth. Later, I thought about what my reaction would have been if I had experienced the four installations in a gallery or museum setting – and whether I would have felt the works were enough for a show, and if so, whether I would have paid an extra fee for that experience? The answer immediately to both was “Yes.” So as an art work it seemed more than enough but, strangely enough, as a warehouse destination immersive experience I expected something more elaborate.

As an artwork, experiencing “A Forest of the Trees” is only the visible part of the iceberg that is Kaino’s work. For Kaino, as is the case with other conceptual artists, the work begins with all phases of research and planning, all the vast interactions and collaboration with various partners and stakeholders. Process counts and in designing, “A Forest for the Trees” Kaino sought to create what he calls ‘ethical networks’ of climate scientists and native activists to ensure that the knowledge of the native peoples remains with them but are exercised for their benefit and the benefit of the planet; and to be respectful of their knowledge. This dovetails with Kaino’s work as a co-curator of the Hammer Museum’s contribution to the upcoming 2024 Pacific Standard multi-site exhibition, “Breath(e): Towards Climate and Social Justice.”

When I interviewed him at the press preview, Kaino told me: “My career has been a series of long-term engagements with issues and ideas and projects and this is no different. I’m not an artist who engages decoratively in an issue and then moves on to another issue… We continue to work by building systems in place for art making and for support and for storytelling.” As an example, Kaino mentioned his long-term collaboration with athlete activist Tommie Smith.

When I asked Kaino about his interest in and ability to collaborate on artworks involving Black Athletes or, in “A Forest for the Trees,” Native American tribes, he answered: “I’m a fourth generation Japanese American that was born in East LA and grew up in a small city called Cerritos and had a multicultural background. I’ve had a long-standing sense of what’s equitable and wanting to be part of teams and thinking about how a plurality of voices is for me more interesting, strong and sustainable. And so immediately when an opportunity of this magnitude came up, my first thing always is to get really excited about the teams that I could build and help assemble, and then work with and collaborate with. It was an opportunity to help create a system of ethical collaboration that we could really put our money, time, and effort where our mouth is, and do everything the right way… with the goal in mind of both making a great show but creating lasting partnerships.”

Creating partnerships and collaborating is at the core of Kaino’s art. He has a long history of creating alternative art spaces, collaborating with others, and freely admits that, “I have created more exhibitions for other artists than I have [for myself] by an order of magnitude. I have helped facilitate over a thousand exhibitions of other artists.”

It is a very human reaction to look at work and ask, “Is it Art?” or even “What makes it Art?” For every sort of artwork, in every generation, the challenge has always been in being able to see the work – to really see it – and to sense what the work is saying. When we can do that, we glimpse its Art. In “A Forest for the Trees” the work can be seen as spectacle, as a learning tool, even as entertainment – all of which are present in the work. But when we grasp the full iceberg, the intention, the process, the production and its collaborations with artists, illusionists, actors, comics, musicians, Tribal leaders, and then consider the full impact of what Kaino has created, it is hard to ignore his artistry.

3. What about those Sponsors?

Speaking of his sponsors, The Atlantic, Superblue and Mastercard, Kaino described them as all part of a “strange conspiracy of support” to demonstrate “how the world could be.” No question, for Kaino, as much as for his sponsors, “A Forest for the Trees” is a crucible of hopes for the future.

“A Forest for the Trees” is Kaino’s artistic response to The Atlantic’s 2021 editorial series, “Who Owns America’s Wilderness,” and more specifically the cover story, “Return the National Parks to the Tribes,” by David Treuer. At the press preview, Nicholas Thompson, CEO of the Atlantic, said the collaboration with Kaino was a case of saying, “Let’s take an idea and make it big and physical.” Deputy Editor Ross Anderson noted that this was the first time The Atlantic was “finding expression in the world of high art.”

In the last decade, and particularly since Jeffrey Goldberg became editor-in-chief in 2016, The Atlantic has transformed itself from a legacy print magazine (founded in 1857), known for the depth and intelligence of its articles (that too often felt like homework reading) to a robust digital presence, lively coverage from diverse voices, and expanded content. This has resulted in greater circulation, more digital advertising, and greater financial health. At the same time, The Atlantic, like every other media company, is attempting to expand its reach to new mediums and new audiences and uncover new revenue streams. This explains why, for example, Penske Media, the owner of Rolling Stone and Variety, owns a stake in the South by Southwest Music Festival. One has but to look to the New York Times which may one day soon make more money from its Crosswords and Cooking apps than it does from its news gathering. If The Atlantic can derive greater publicity, name recognition, and even revenue from participating in their content becoming ticketed entertainment/artworks, then we can expect that “A Forest for the Trees” is not the last of such collaborations.

This is also the first installation in Los Angeles for Superblue, a company in which Marc Glimcher of PACE is a partner, and which was created to showcase the experiential work of artists such as James Turrell, DRIFT Studio, and now Glenn Kaino. Superblue is looking to disrupt the traditional gallery and museum exhibition paradigm where rather than selling the artwork, they are selling admission to an experience.

Superblue is a market response to an audience shift in the past years surrounding installation and experiential art. As the lengthy line of people waiting to enter the Kusama Infinity room at The Broad in LA can attest, visitors revel in having an Instagram-able moment. At the same time, for conceptual artists and artists of the Light and Space movement, galleries have grappled with how to best popularize and monetize their works. Charging admission is the latest strategy.

The antecedents of Superblue can be found in the “Blockbuster” Art Exhibition, such as “Treasures of Tutankhamun,” where people would pay a fee to see highly hyped art and artifacts that tour the country and the world taking up residence in museums, science centers and even Presidential Libraries (The Ronald Reagan Library hosts many such traveling exhibitions), and even in their own specially designed containers (such as Ashes and Snow, the Geoffrey Colbert naturalist photography exhibition).

Outside of the traditional museum and gallery matrix, there is an audience today for a spectrum of popular culture and art-related immersive experiences, from the use of public domain artworks by Van Gogh, Manet, and Frida Kahlo, to TV show-themed Pop ups for “Friends,” Schitt’s Creek,” and “Breaking Bad.” In both cases, existing I.P. is being developed as a for-profit cultural experience.

Superblue is also the latest way to promote, popularize and monetize the work of conceptual artists, which has long been a challenge. For example, the late artist Christo made large scale artworks that engaged existing landscapes and architecture, with the final product of the works themselves existing only for a brief period. In Christo’s time, to make his works he had benefactors, sponsors, grants and awards, and he sold prints and other forms of documentation of his works. Way before Christo, Marcel Duchamp created a traveling case of miniatures of his work to extend their reach and allow Duchamp to sell more exemplars of his work. Today, there would have been a Duchamp and Christo Pop-up.

Finally, Mastercard was also a sponsor on this project. Rustom Dastoor, executive Vice President for Marketing & Communications, North America, spoke at the press preview saying as regards their two billion cardholders, they hoped to “empower cardholders to sustainability” and mentioning that they were partners in a coalition to plant 100s of millions of trees through the Priceless Planet Coalition by which for each ticket sold a tree was planted. Dastoor said that Mastercard was looking to distinguish themselves by supporting and offering its card members access not just to events but also experiences.

In “A Forest for the Trees” Kaino has created an immersive experience that reaches back to Native traditions, that is the product of the networks of creatives he has gathered to create a work that proposes a way forward, not just for our forests, but also for showing conceptual art installations, and for new partnerships for legacy media and even for consumer credit cards. The magic trick in all this is getting you to see “A Forest for the Trees” in all its dimensions.

Or as Kaino put it, “We’re trying to engage, to make you feel instead of just seeing.”

“A Forest for The Trees” can be seen with ticketed entry for all ages Thursday through Sundays at Ace Mission Studios, 515 South Mission Road. For tickets and more information see https://www.aforestla.com/