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91av recommends Kew Gardens' new Of the Oak exhibition

The books, TV, games and more that 91av staff have enjoyed this week

By Liz Else

6 August 2025

Of the Oak by Marshmallow Laser Feast (c) Marshmallow Laser Feast

Of the Oak

Marshmallow Laser Feast

: you never know what lies in wait. My favourite offering to date is , a giant installation from art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast (on until 28 September), connecting us to an oak tree’s inner life.

And not just any oak. This immersive video (above) focuses on a 250-year-old Lucombe oak (Quercus x hispanica “Lucombeana”) that survives nearby, moved as Kew was created. The video screen stands where the tree once did.

Working with Kew’s experts and others, the collective created “a living monument” to the oak, estimated to afford shelter and food to 2300 species. They stitched together thousands of images, used LiDAR to map the tree, CT to scan soil samples and ground-penetrating radar to trace its root system.

Soak it all up, listen to meditation audio (bring a headset) – or even create your own, to help avert the collective’s fears that what “once seemed eternal now leans toward fragility, its fate entwined with our capacity to care”.

 

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