christoph both-asmus balances between earth + sky for the tree walker

christoph both-asmus the tree walker
all images courtesy of christoph both-asmus

encouraged by a daydream, berlin based artist and filmmaker christoph both-asmus plans to become ‘the tree walker‘ by balancing over the highest branches of the canopy in the lush gabonese rainforest in africa. ‘one day, I was looking at the sky out of the window of my 4th floor studio.’ both-asmus remembers ‘I could see the tree tops above the window frame. in my imagination I saw myself like a projection balancing almost weightlessly on the highest and most fragile branches. sinking deep into that dream, reeling; afraid of falling, pushing the thought away, I moved forward over the canopy’s thinnest branches.’

the performative film project, currently seeking support on indiegogo, is the preliminary stage of a 16mm movie, aimed to be screened as an independent film and as a looped projection within the context of a gallery installation.

to realize the work, both-asmus has been working towards learning specialized tree climbing techniques using rope and bamboo rods. as a test, he has successfully managed to climb to the highest canopy of the forest’s fragile ceiling, perching himself on towering wooden stilts. the progression and actual movement across the branches will be realized with the use and development of the ‘canopy bubble’ balloon by working together with its creator, dany cleyet-marrel. strong enough to carry one person, the balloon will be connected to both-asmus via twenty five meter long ropes (long enough so they are invisible during the film), lifting him into the air and making him essentially weightless.

the ‘canopy bubble’ will connect to the artist, rendering him weightless

filming at the site in gabon is set for november 2014: this rainforest is equatorial, therefore the first three hours after sunrise are windless and the vegetation grows more dense than anywhere else. both-asmus will take on the challenges of balancing over the highest and thinnest branches of the canopy, allowing him to tower above the earth and walk across the tree-tops as no one has before.

during a test, both-asmus successfully climbed to the highest canopy branches

the artist perched a top the tree

drawings indicate the method of travel across the treetops