Did the Tree Fall?

Did the Tree Fall? is an exploration of the question of whether art needs an audience. Drawing parallels with the philosophical question “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”, the work raises the question of the value and legitimacy of an artwork if it is not presented to an audience. In a reversal of the trope, a text and sound installation is presented where the sound of the tree falling can be heard but not seen, prompting consideration on the validity of an artwork.

 

The necessity of an audience has been a question on my mind for many years, and I’ve come to a conclusion that an audience is indeed necessary for art to be valid, with the artists themselves being the artwork’s first audience. The next question is then whether a wider audience would validate an artwork even more? This installation is the physical manifestation of my investigations, and I invite the audience to share my contemplation of this fundamental question.