Intervention No. 3 - Friday 5th April 2024
at Mammoth - A Climate Action Cinema, Nottingham
#Noticethistree is a series of interventions about protest and loss across the UK
For Intervention No.3 Notice This Tree went to Mammoth - A Climate Action Cinema in Nottingham, a small but hugely influential cinema which self-describes as "A hub for sharing ideas about how we can all contribute towards a better, fairer, and greener future - focused around film". People walked from trees to the cinema where they connected and shared stories of trees. They also participated in an artist-led workshop facilitated by Raffa Baldo, artist and programmer at Mammoth cinema, and contributed to the ever-growing Mycelium Mundus banner, before watching the Happy Man Tree film, directed by Katy McGahan. After the screening we all reflected on the question 'what now'?
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Artist and activist
Raffa Baldo
Synchronicity happens...
The day before we were in Nottingham The Wu Ming, a writers collective in Bologna Italy, published a book called ‘Banda Hood’ a reworking of Robin Hood who lived in Sherwood Forest. For more info see hereThe book is based on the dichotomy that Sherwood Forest represents - the dichotomy that Wu Ming 4 was so interested in: “on one side, the city, the palace, the constituted authority; on the other, the forest, the popular beliefs, the living nature”.
The Wu Ming Collective were involved in something else that happened the day before our NoticeThisTree intervention in Nottingham. In Bologna there were big protests in the Don Bosco park to save many trees from being felled by a developer. Their struggle is against what is described as one of the ‘Big Stupid Imposed Projects’ that we are all so aware of in our lives. Unfortunately many people were hurt in the clashes. It was big news in Italy.
In our reflection after the screening of The Happy Man Tree we discovered that Raffa, our
Italian facilitator for the evening, had previously lived in Bologna. Put all these links together and we realised that there are many of us gathering in many parts of the world that are building community and creating a new story that is not about cement.
We recorded the below message and sent it to the Wu Ming and the Don Bosco committee of resistance. View the message on YouTube here
For more on The Wu Ming Writers' Collective and the Don Bosco protest see here
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#NOTICE THIS TREE: INTERVENTION NO: 3 ​
is all about the continuing loss of trees in our local areas
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Trees are generally felt to be precious. We talk about the importance of saving the Amazon forest but the number of trees being removed here,
in our own towns and cities across the UK, also keeps going up. On the 5th April, we are inviting people to come together to ‘Notice This Tree’ in our 3rd Intervention at Mammoth - A Climate Action Cinema, Nottingham
(See what happened in a previous Intervention here)
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The invitation is in three parts:
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NOTICE
Notice a tree at risk, a tree that has been lost – or simply one you love.
We invite you to walk from this tree in any way you choose, alone or
with others, to Mammoth - A Climate Action Cinema, 25 Broad St, Nottingham NG1 3AP, to reach there at 7pm. Beforehand, you are invited to join our WhatsApp group and connect with all the people who are organising walks from trees, to let others know if you have a tree in mind to notice, and if you would like them to join your walk. WhatsApp invite link is here.
CONNECT
7pm in the cinematheque - join a creative workshop which includes the Mycelium Mundus tapestry which we have been working on in every intervention. You are invited to contribute to it.
7.35pm there is a specially created sound piece played in the auditorium
7.45pm we will watch Katy McGahan’s documentary The Happy Man Tree (75mins, 12a). The central protagonist is one famous Hackney tree and the film charts the attempts on the part of Hackney locals to save it.
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REFLECT
What Now? After the screening at 9pm until around 9.45pm you are invited to join a reflection about the impact of the loss of so many trees in our urban areas. Afterwards there will be time in the bar afterwards for any informal conversations to happen.
Buy tickets to the screening here
Watch the trailer here​