“Wooden Conversations” ties a pair of pine trees to a wooden door via a cable and pulley system, creating a sort of ventriloquy where the living “wild” wood and the dead “domestic” wood each animate one another. The sounds of trees creaking and doors squeaking echo each other – the dead wooden product speaks with the voice of the tree and the tree’s voice is made recognizable by its similarity to the product’s creak. This work seeks to dramatize the shared fibers between nature and our built environment, which we tend to separate, so we might better acknowledge our ties to the wild entities seeded into our lives.
NOTE! Neither the door nor the trees are too interested in conversing on rainy or overly moist days, so have patience and visit on a dry day.
Mohar Kalra is an American artist and researcher who creates interactive artworks that offer unexpected interfaces to the commonplace. In the process, he explores how we reflect and are reflected in the technological, biological, ecological and digital systems that scaffold our lives.
