Becoming the Forest #2

Label / Becoming the Forest
Category / Botanic, Nature, Occult
Code /

'Treading the arboreal pathway through the backwoods of black metal' Becoming the Forest is an open-ended publication, which looks at our relationship to our surroundings, with a specific focus on the Northern hemisphere’s abundance of dense spruce forests, and how the aesthetic and philosophy of the musical subculture of black metal has become entangled with this topography. Becoming the Forest is a wider and ongoing arts project by artist Una Hamilton Helle, of which this publication is the latest instalment. The publication includes essays, interviews, illustration and photography and brings together international voices from literature, the visual arts, science, art history and the musical realms. These include contributions about the molecular memory of spruce trees, musings on the animistic worldview, an introduction to folkloric painter Theodor Kittelsen and interviews with black metal-inspired bands that touch upon everything from the eco-dystopian to the mundanity of nature. Contributors: Alkerdeel, Ashtoreth, Botanist, Lotte Brown, Camilla Christensen, Audrey Ewell, Fen, Carl Gunnar Fossdal, Una Hamilton Helle, Hexvessel, Ibrahim Ineke, Amelia Ishmael, Sarah Jury, Theodor Kittelsen, Mork, Occvlta, Trond Sebastian Rusten and Andrew Walter. Table of Contents Una Hamilton Helle in conversation with Carl Gunnar Fossdal Inn I De Dype Skogers Favn – Epigenetic memory in the Spruce Tree In which an artist and a scientist speak about their connection to trees on the molecular and mythological level and ponder whether trees have consciousness. An interview with Occvlta Wherein black metallers speak of growing up between beech tree woods, pagan burial sites and the East German border. Amelia Ishmael Here the repellent harpies make their nests In which a dark and hungry narrative is woven in the night time world of a Dantean concrete landscape. Illuminated by Ibrahim Ineke. An interview with Ashtoreth Wherein we follow the drone musician down a shamanic path through inner and outer landscapes. Camilla Christensen Against The Mighty Ominous Forces of Nature: Nature, myth and national identity in the art of Theodor Kittelsen In which we are introduced to the creatures of Norwegian folklore and the circumstances that led to a 19th century artist bringing them out of the undergrowth and back into the collective consciousness. An interview with Alkerdeel Wherein the filthyblacksludgedronedoom band talk about the wildlife of rural Belgium, the stench of nature and lawnmowers. Audrey Ewell Goodnight, goodnight In which Audrey recounts life with partner and collaborator Aaron with whom she made Until the Light Takes Us, a documentary about the story of Norwegian black metal. An interview with Mork Wherein a gateway to an unholy wooded kingdom of decay is opened. Una Hamilton Helle Z4006: Mapping the Norway Spruce’s DNA In which we discover how the secrets of an organism with genetic material seven times larger than the human genome were brought to light. An interview with Hexvessel Wherein Mat McNerney tells us of the frozen landscapes of Lapland, the astral teachings of the Ancient Egyptians and the ritual importance of Iron Age bogs. Lotte Brown Dusk is not a good time to go to the supermarket In which a Belgian in search of solitude spends months alone in a house in the wooded foothills of the Catskills. An interview with Fen Wherein the Watcher takes us for a walk under the expansive skies of Eastern England. Sarah Jury Yasuni Travelogue In which a trip deep into the Amazonian jungle calls up unsettling questions about the oil-stained effects of the Anthropocene. An interview with Botanist Wherein we are introduced to the Verdant Realm of the Botanist and his dystopian floral-centred philosophy is mapped out.

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Becoming the Forest #2

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Becoming the Forest #2

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