Of the Oak

Of The Oak is celebration for the oak tree as a living monument of vital ecological relationships and species interdependence. It is an invitation to witness the oak as a keystone in the web of life, majestic and unassuming, stretching its branches skyward and its roots deep into the soil, embodying both quiet strength and boundless generosity.

Of The Oak is Marshmallow Laser Feast’s inquiry into the hidden world of oak trees. Commissioned by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and created in collaboration with ecologists, biologists, and researchers, the project reveals the oak not merely as a tree, but as a living nexus of connection and reciprocity.

Standing as a pillar of biodiversity, the oak shelters thousands of species within its embrace, from the smallest fungi to winged creatures nesting among its body. Each life form moves in a shared rhythm, a mutual flourishing sustained by the oak’s enduring presence.

Participants are invited to explore the rhythmic interplay of breath, connecting deeply with the oak’s ecosystem and its essential role in sustaining biodiversity.

Open: 3 May 2025 – 28 Sept. 2025
Location: Royal Botanical Gardens Kew

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This multifaceted immersive artwork features a large-scale site-specific video installation with multichannel audio, a series of open-eyed meditations, and an online field guide that explores the species associated with the oak. Together, these elements offer a sensory journey through the seasons, uncovering the oak’s hidden vitality and its role in a complex web of life.

Created in collaboration with ecologists, biologist and researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the project blends artistic rendition with advanced imaging technologies, revealing the oak not merely as a tree, but as a living nexus of connection and reciprocity, to plant acorns in the human imagination.

Advanced techniques—including photogrammetry (stitching together thousands of images), LiDAR scanning (mapping the tree’s form with laser pulses), and CT scanning of soil samples—reveal hidden worlds both above and below ground. Ground-penetrating radar traces the oak’s intricate root network, while a series of 24-hour live sound recordings, supported by Kew’s specialist Tree Gang, brings its vibrant soundscape to life.

The online field guide extends the project’s inquiry into the intricate, often invisible networks sustained by oak trees—mapping the species they support and their ecological interdependence. Alongside this ecological exploration, the guide features a series of open-eyed meditations authored by Daisy Lafarge, Merlin Sheldrake, Ella Saltmarshe, and Laline Paull. These texts offer poetic and contemplative entry points into the experience of being with trees, inviting moments of reflection grounded in both imagination and embodied attention.

Artist statement

There is more to an oak than meets the eye.

– A thread woven into the story of our kind.

Of the Oak is an invitation to witness the tree as a living monument of connection, a keystone in the web of life. Majestic, yet unassuming, it reaches its branches skyward and roots deep into the soil, sustaining life.

By peering through the oak’s layers, we uncover a vibrancy that flows through and beyond its body. The pulse of nutrients through its phloem echoes our own heartbeat. This rhythmic journey, from crown to soil, culminates in rivers of carbon, interwoven with the mycelial bridge that connects land and sky. In this underground network, we see that no self is isolated; all are porous, enmeshed, entangled.

The oak’s meaning stretches far beyond bark and bough. Its limbs embrace whole ecosystems, providing shelter and food for more than 2,300 species1. From lichens anchored to bark to birds building nests overhead, butterflies fluttering through the leaves to fungi weaving the soil below—countless companions of the oak adapt, flourish, and coexist in a mutual rhythm of growth and revival. In acknowledging this complexity, we confront our own plant blindness, our tendency to overlook the aliveness of plants because they move to a rhythm slower than ours.

This shift in perspective reveals a framework of reciprocity, where all beings exist in cycles of giving and receiving. As our connection to the Earth frays, this work stands as an invitation to extend our imagination to include the vastness of trees. In turn, we also open ourselves to a deeper relationship with the living world.

For over a million years, oaks have taken root in Britain’s soil, their story etched into the fabric of the land. As ice ages came and went, they withdrew and returned, reclaiming ground alongside animals and, eventually, humans. Yet today, these rooted beings stand at a threshold. What once seemed eternal now leans toward fragility, its fate entwined with our capacity to care. As we gather in its shade, we are called to become part of its story—to ensure it is not only remembered, but continued.

Marshmallow Laser Feast, 2025

1. Mitchell, R.J. et al Oak-associated biodiversity in the UK (OakEcol)

https://doi.org/10.5285/22b3d41e-7c35-4c51-9e55-0f47bb845202

Of the Oak, 2025

An Artwork by Marshmallow Laser Feast
Ersin Han Ersin, Barnaby Steel, Robin McNicholas

Commissioned by Royal Botcanical Gardens Kew

Executive Producers: Eleanor (Nell) Whitley, Mike Jones
Producer: Roxie Oliveira
Head of Studio: Sarah Gamper Marconi
Lead Artist: Quentin Corker Marin
Lead Creative Technologist: Chris Mullany
Creative Developer: Sam Twidale
VFX Artists: Nicolas Le Dren, Lewis Saunders
Technical Lead: Miryana Ivanova
Music, Sound Design: James Bulley
Sound System Engineer: Simon Hendry
Assistant Recordist: Jake Tyler, Richard Hards
Recording Musicians: Kat Tinker, Audrey Riley, Daniel Pioro, Ian Stonehouse
Graphic Designer: Patrick Fry
Researcher, Copywriter: Eliza Collin
Marketing and Communications Lead: Erin Wolson
Technical Studio Assistant: Ieva Vaitiekunaite
Studio Administrator & Production Assistant: Alex McRobbie
Online Field Guide Design and Development: Lusion
Lidar Technician: Zachary Mollica
PR: Margaret

Contributing Authors for Meditations
Daisy Lafarge
Merlin Sheldrake
Laline Paull
Ella Saltmarshe

Meditations Voiced by Michelle Newell, Merlin Sheldrake

Scientific Advisors & Contributors
Kevin Martin (RBG, Kew)
Justin Moet (RBG, Kew)
Dr. Laura Martinez-Suz (RBG, Kew)
Lee Davies (RBG, Kew)
Peter Gasson (RBG, Kew)
Dr. Ruth Mitchell
Prof. James McDonald
Dr. Jenni Stockan
Paul Bellamy – RSPB

For Marshmallow Laser Feast
Executive Producers: Alex Rowse, Carolina Vallejo
Senior Producer: Martin Jowers
Producers: Anya Tye, Emmanuel Adanlawo
Tools & Infrastructure Engineer: Maria Astakhova
Social Media Content Manager: Selin Kir

For Installation
Documentation: Lamplight Media Ltd
LED Suppliers: Wheelhouse
Rigging Constructors: Focus Rigging and Scaffolding Ltd
Health & Safety Consultants: Event Safety Plan
Camera Case Design: Sienna Griffin-Shaw