The exhibition Did not see a tree assumes a perspective that has no personal experience of trees. It points to another time — a past or future where trees do not yet exist or no longer exist. Approaching from the future, a picture of a barren, oppressive world emerges. Even if trees disappeared from the world, they would remain in our collective consciousness: linguistic expressions and thought structures carry within them the missing plant, which has long been not only a living organism but also part of our culture. And if we look to the past, we have to dig so deep to find a tree that the vastness of time almost makes us dizzy.
Nevertheless, our relationship with trees is very indirect: they have to become wood or a medium for us to notice them. It is difficult to connect with a tree as a living being. In the objects of the exhibition, the tree trunk appears as a mediator, a carrier, marked with legible signs. The cut trunk reveals its growth rings, telling the story of its life and imparting its wisdom. The tree trunk mediates: it is a channel through which meaning slowly seeps through. The inscriptions carved into the bark provide evidence that we often regard living trees as mediums. As an alternative, billboards built around trees appear, typically loud with competing messages. The screens in the exhibition, however, reject the compulsion to communicate and instead become quiet, turning inward, adapting to the shape of the tree.