The Tree Crier and The Future Machine

With artist Dr Rachel Jacobs, and as part of a 'When The Future Comes Collective' annual activity, the Future Machine travelled again in July 2024 with Caroline Locke to Cannington Primary School in Somerset. The artists worked with each of the school year groups, discussing the trees, the environment, past, present and future in relation to the climate emergency. Caroline’s ‘Significant Trees’ projects involve recording data from trees, relating trees to movement, rhythms and frequencies. John Taylor Bell Foundry worked with Caroline to cast a handbell tuned to the frequency of the tree which she planted in Cannington when she was 12. The Cannington Tree Bell was introduced to the Cannington Primary School children as part of workshop activities last summer. We talked about using the bell to ‘make a noise about the climate emergency’ and the old tradition of the town crier, a person who is employed by a town council to make public announcements in the streets. During the Spring term in 2024 each class were given a brief to work with teachers to write their own ‘tree cries’.
A ‘ritual’ was performed:A ‘Tree Crier’ from each class dressed in the tree crier costume to perform their own thoughts about trees, climate and their community. This took place as part of workshops lead by Caroline Locke and Rachel Jacobs with 210 children between the ages of 4 and 11.