Experience Auckland’s park life as never before with a unique artistic undertaking. Walking in Trees presented by Wilde Projects reconnects urban dwellers with the natural world via a specially constructed scaffolding staircase that wraps around a majestic Himalayan cedar tree in Albert Park, allowing Aucklanders to walk, sit and relax around a magical sub-canopy.

Wilde Projects connects communities through art and ecology. The latest iteration of Walking in Trees delivered during the Auckland Pride Festival allows for an opportunity to ‘queer’ discussions around ecology and additionally ‘green’ queer conversations. Imagine a city built with plants and queer perspectives in mind? What is the queer community’s relationship with ‘Nature’? And how queer is tree hugging?

Albert Park is one of the cities prime green spaces, built on the remnants of an ancient volcano, a Pā site and military barracks. It has also been a site of cruising since the nineteenth century and Aotearoa’s first public LGBTI+ protest in 1972.

Walking in Trees creates an opportunity for the audience to explore the city from a new perspective, investigate intimacies with non-human life and each other alike. Along with the sculptural installation, there will be talks and workshops that explore creativity, arboreal intimacies and local histories.

Presented by Wilde Projects