The Har­mon­ic Tree is a new art­work / music­al instru­ment resem­bling an exot­ic plant, with steel strings, per­cuss­ive fruit and ber­ries. Beneath the sur­face it houses an array of audio effects pro­cessors, all adjustable by tend­ing to twigs, branches and oth­er parts of the tree, enabling an oper­at­or to cre­ate elec­troacous­tic sound­scapes. The Har­mon­ic Tree was designed and co-built by Lōemis Festival’s Andrew Lak­ing, who is thrilled the tree will get a new life after the Fest­iv­al was can­celled due to COVID-19. Andrew says “While it was ori­gin­ally inten­ded for a botan­ic­al themed Lōemis Fest­iv­al cel­eb­rat­ing the winter sol­stice, thanks to the sup­port of Wel­ling­ton City Council’s Pub­lic Art Fund, Cre­at­ive New Zea­l­and and Toi Whakaari the Har­mon­ic Tree will now be a free stan­dalone event to enjoy in the beauty of the gar­dens.”

Aside from the elec­tric­al com­pon­ents, some tape and a few screws, The Har­mon­ic Tree was built entirely out of dis­carded mater­i­als. Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School Set & Props stu­dents have helped cre­ate the new music­al art­work that will be installed and played by live musi­cians at the Wel­ling­ton Botan­ic­al Gar­dens.

Fran­cis Gal­lop Head of Depart­ment for Toi Whakaari Set & Props says he is excited about the real world exper­i­ence and applic­a­tion this event provides for stu­dents. “This event is a wel­come addi­tion to our grow­ing engage­ment with a diverse range of cre­at­ive organ­isa­tions and prac­ti­tion­ers. The Har­mon­ic Tree has grown with the help of many hands includ­ing our second year Set & Props stu­dents Monique Tongue, Aimée Storm, Luke Scott, Jared Lewis, Stephanie Quen­nell, Mika Turn­bull, and Har­riet Trub­shaw. This year we’ve also had the oppor­tun­ity to help cre­ate for Lōemis, in and out of lock­down, a huge sol­stice fire effigy, an array of wood­land fairy folk, fab­ulous cel­eb­rat­ory ban­ners and a shad­ow play machine, which will be resur­rec­ted for Lōemis 2021. A big thank you to Andy Lak­ing and Lōemis Fest­iv­al whānau for all the great mahi they have shared with us”, says Fran­cis.

Artists will be per­form­ing on the instru­ment daily 10.30am – 11.30am and 12.30pm – 1.30pm.

For full sched­ule and inform­a­tion, please vis­it loemis.nz/harmonic-tree

  • The Har­mon­ic Tree, Wel­ling­ton Botan­ic­al Gar­dens, 29 Septem­ber to 11 Octo­ber 2020