A foreign artist’s attempt to paint some trees in Singapore blue — to raise awareness of deforestation — has been thwarted by the National Parks Board who said it wanted to give the trees time to recover from the haze.
NParks had earlier given its support to organizer National Arts Council but had to withdraw it at the last minute after getting trolled by the public — including one who called it a “violent act against nature”, reports Channel NewsAsia.
The Blue Trees installation, scheduled last week at Dhoby Ghaut Green, was first mounted in April 2011 at the Vancouver Biennale. It’s been hosted in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand.
To turn the trees blue, the artist uses a colourant, made of water and 100 per cent organic material, that has been called safe by tree organisations and certified arborists.
But Tony O’Dempsey, chairman of the Nature Society Singapore’s Plant Group, pointed out in the CNA report that natural pigments are not always harmless.
“How do we know (the colourant) won’t harm the fungi, lichens, and insect life that live on and inside the bark of the tree,” he asked.
Ironically, the colourant was developed by artist Konstantin Dimopoulos, who is from Australia, a country that is known to be the most anal in the world when it comes to protecting its ecosystem.
NAC is not hurt by NParks’ decision and hopes to convince Dimopoulos to stage a different version of the installation in Singapore. Here’s a suggestion: Why don’t you dress up volunteers in blue and wrap them around the trees?
Photo via Kondimopoulos.com (The Blue Trees in Germany)
