Repeating the Forest 2014

Editor: Right, let’s talk about Giuseppe Penone’s "Repeating the Forest," created in 2014. It's a site-specific installation constructed from wood. My initial impression is a rather melancholic feeling of lost nature; these tree trunks almost feel like ghosts of what once was. What do you see in this piece, viewed from a materialist perspective? Curator: Considering this work materialistically, I'm struck by Penone’s deliberate exposure of process. The act of reduction is key; the artist carves back to reveal the tree’s earlier form. Look at the differing textures: the rough, unworked blocks contrast with the meticulously shaped trunks. How does that interplay between raw and refined materials influence your understanding? Editor: It makes me think about the labor involved. Someone had to physically carve away the wood, enacting a kind of reverse growth. And there's a contrast between the industrial process of cutting down a tree, and the craft of sculpting it. Curator: Precisely! And think about the economic systems involved in sourcing, transporting, and transforming the wood. It brings up questions of sustainability and our relationship with natural resources. Could we even consider the gallery itself as another layer of materiality, a space of display and consumption? Editor: I never thought of it that way, but of course! The pristine white walls highlight the "naturalness" of the wood, while the act of display turns the trees into commodities. Curator: Exactly. Penone’s work cleverly unearths the complex life cycle of a raw material – from forest to gallery and potentially back again, forcing us to confront our role in that circuit. What might that mean to us? Editor: Thinking about it that way adds a completely new dimension. I'd been focused on the surface representation, but the materiality encourages me to consider the underlying socio-economic structures at play. Thanks for making this more visible. Curator: It works both ways, reflecting about it collectively is crucial to approach new readings, and interpretations.