Produced by Håvard Sagen with Tya Lovett and Tim Sweet, Geode Tree is a large-scale interactive sculpture and collaborative project featuring a fallen seven tonne River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), sourced locally near the Gariwerd/Grampians township of Moyston.
Widespread along the rivers and floodplains of Australia, the River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) can live for up to 1,000 years. With complex and elusive growth cycles, the species defies the conventions of dendrochronology, its true vintage hard to define.
Indulging this mystique, the ancient giant holds other markers of time and place. Minerals, crystals, fossils, bones, and shells—spanning millennia—have been embedded within its charred hollow. Echoing and subverting the tradition of the cabinet of curiosities, these specimens are not presented as isolated objects of wonder but as interconnected remnants within a once-living form. Stringed to form a chordophone, the work is extended via sonic possibility.
Extending the lifeblood of this River Red Gum—and honoring its distinctive Cultural importance—the tree’s outermost layer has been scarred, in line with ancient and enduring Djab Wurrung, Jardwadjali, Gunditjmara and broader Aboriginal Cultural Practices.
Together, these elements deepen the sculpture’s narrative, inviting reflection on memory, transformation, and the entanglement of time, matter, life, and our place in the natural world.
Geode Tree was commissioned by the Lewin Family Foundation, as a gesture towards Glenda Lewin’s belief in the magic of nature play. The project was made possible through the generous support of local and regional collectors and institutions, many of whom kindly donated key elements. The artists gratefully acknowledge the contributions—both intellectual and material—of Renate and Berry Weinert, Tom Kapitany, Ocean Road Abalone, Neil and Wendy Marriott, Shane Hitchcock, Bronte Heron, and Walter G Atkinson.