TREE SOCIAL (2026)
MEDIUM
Performance, workshop, happening scored for humans and trees
LOCATION
Multispecies Lab Ideas Festival at The New School April 8
Pioneer Works Second Sundays April 12
“Tree Social” reimagines street tree care as an interspecies, multisensory social event — because good relationships require deep listening and care. What are the possibilities when we listen to, respect, and get to know our multispecies communities?
Developed in collaboration with sound artist and ecologist Lisa Schonberg, social scientist Lindsay Campbell, and NYC Parks Stewardship leader Tina Cuevas, Tree Social guides participants through structured encounters with street trees, emulating the social rituals we use to make friends: mixing, getting to know each other, and building connection and empathy before committing to care.
COLLABORATORS
Laura Nova is a NaturePLACE Artist in Residence, Lisa Schonberg ecological sound artist , and Lindsay Campbell is a social scientist at theU.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station, and Tina Cuevas who leads the NYC Parks Stewardship team.
SPECIAL THANKS
NYC Parks Stewardship team, The New School, and Pioneer Works
RELATED PUBLICATIONS
https://tree-map.nycgovparks.org/
https://www.multispecieslab.net/festival
Stewardship Salons: a guide to collaborative learning spaces that foster and strengthen networks in natural resource stewardship, May 13, 2025.
Pioneer Works |PDF Multispecies |PDF
Something Here
Multispecies Lab Ideas Festival, The New School — April 8
At the inaugural happening, participants gathered at the intersection of 5th Avenue and 13th Street for a participatory performance blending multisensory communication, presentation, and workshopping. We began by sharing favorite memories of and relationships to specific trees. We greeted the trees using Lisa’s Sonic Encounter
System — exchanging greetings with our new arboreal acquaintances through sound as an emotive and gestural, rather than semiotic, tool. We noticed the trees by identifying them on the NYC Tree Map, rubbing bark, and smelling. We cared for the trees by picking up trash, aerating soil, and spreading mulch in a doughnut at the base. We departed with a toast to the tree, shared a sip of water, and tied ribbons and wishes to the tree.
Pioneer Works Second Sundays — April 12
At Pioneer Works, “Tree Social” took the form of a street tree stewardship workshop, helping participants grow their relationship with NYC trees. We began by sharing favorite memories of and relationships to specific trees. Joining Tina Cuevas and the NYC Parks Stewardship team, participants learned hands-on tree care and leaf identification, engaged in dialogue through the Stewardship Salon format with the NYC Urban Field Station, and practiced greeting, meeting, and socializing with trees with NYC UFS Artist in Residence Laura Nova. We got our hands in the dirt, shared a sip of water, and met our tree neighbors.
Nature faces from Photokinetic Stewardship Workshop 2: Exploring Light Sources and Personal Connections in Photography
Are there any changes in nature that you often notice (blooming of a particular plant, leaf out, leaf drop, rainy seasons, shorter winters etc.)? Do you notice any of these changing and how?
Compositions from Photokinetic Stewardship Workshop 1: Moving, Collecting, Composing
Let’s take a moment and silently observe your surroundings and then make a movement inspired by the nature in this place.
Scenes from the Garden Party where we invited participants to share a moment of awe and connect through movement-haikus inspired by the meadow, followed by an awe walk through the landscape. At the walk’s conclusion, each person collected a cyanotype ribbon and reflected on how moving around the garden and observing the images deepened their connection to this place. Reflections were shared aloud as ribbons were ceremonially attached to the meadow fence.