Conversation with a tree

Abstract

"Conversation with a tree" is an audio play through Basel and deals with memory of places. Participants can encounter past memories at selected places and immerse themselves in the respective time in which they were still present. A choreography of music, sounds and voices guides the participants through the entire city. The walk follows the element that was present in all places: the tree. What if the tree itself carries memory between its annual rings? As a silent witness of historical events and listener to private conversations, the tree has spent several generations at its location. Buildings and people have appeared and disappeared around the tree as if in a time-lapse. The walk-through radio play imagines that the giant has preserved this change as a time capsule. Visitors are taken to everyday places where the memory trees themselves have already disappeared. The invisible tree tells its own story and encounters old acquaintances from its memory.