Never Just a Tree - Introduction: Video Essay #1 by Shane Finan

Shane Finan, resident artist on the programme ENTWINED. Rural. Land. Lives. Art. will be posting video essays in the coming weeks about his residency with VARC. The introductory video essay by Shane Finan on the video essay and documentary project, 'Never Just A Tree', as part of his residency 'The Wood Wide Web' in collaboration with the Kielderhead Wildwood Project, Kielder. Follow-on videos will appear on this Vimeo page in the coming weeks. In this video, Shane introduces the concepts that he will be working on. His work crosses ideas about natural, technological and social concepts. On his residency, he will be creating work about networks, in the forest, in communities, and through digital technologies. The 'Wood Wide Web' is a recently discovered phenomenon about networks of fungi and trees that spread through forests, sharing and exchanging information, food, water and other resources. Community networks help enrich people's lives, often through art. Digital technologies ena