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Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukács

Forest on Location

Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukács Forest on Location

Fragments of an enchanted forest disintegrate right before our eyes while a melancholic tune fills a space filled with floating debris. Forest on Location is a film about Europe's last primeval forest, the 11,800 year-old Bialowieza Forest, located in the border region between Belarus and Poland. Many fairy tales are set there, including those by the Brothers Grimm. Despite its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its continued existence is threatened by extensive logging and climate change, among other issues. This is also where many migrants get stranded on their way to Europe.

Using digital techniques such as photogrammetry, artist duo Persijn Broersen and Margit Lukács have created a virtual ‘back-up’ of the last remnants of the old forest. Among the virtual trees, the avatar of Iranian opera singer Shahram Yazdani sings his Persian interpretation of Nature Boy, a song made famous thanks to Nat King Cole. Nature Boy was composed by Eden Ahbez in 1948, though its melody was claimed by Herman Yablokoff, a Jewish Broadway composer from New York who grew up in the region around Bialowieza. His version Shvayg Main Harts (Be Quiet My Heart) tells of migration, alienation and loss. With this film, Broersen and Lukács ask how do we as humans relate to the nature we speak about in songs and folk tales, but of which we only manage to retain fragments.

Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukács Forest on Location