In Austin, Texas, artist Steve Parker has made a series of “sound sculptures,” musical instruments and playable records from a dead oak tree that are being exhibited at Ivester Contemporary.
Named “Funeral for a Tree,” the material for the sculptures came from an oak tree that lived in Parker’s yard for decades before dying of oak wilt.
According to designboom, by transforming the beloved oak into sculptures that emit sound, the tree can “perform its own memorial.” The playable records, which work much like vinyl records, include recordings of bird species that would have nested in such a tree while it lived. This allows the tree to “remember the life it once supported,” the design publication explains.
To add to the heartbreak, as the wood of the instruments and records dry and crack, the sound quality of the pieces become distorted.
“The artist allows this to happen instead of fixing it, so in this way, the sound slowly disappears, just like memories change over time,” the publication said.