DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A tree — or rather, 4,000 of them — will grow in Downtown Brooklyn later this year.
Artist Spencer Finch, through a partnership with the Public Art Fund and Forest City Ratner Companies, will recreate a scaled-down version of a 790-acre section of northern California’s Redwood National Park at MetroTech Commons starting Oct. 1.
The exhibit, called “Spencer Finch: Lost Man Creek,” will feature about 4,000 live Dawn Redwood trees that have yet to reach full size.
The young trees, which can grow to between 98 to 380 feet tall, will stand at 1 to 4 feet for the installation.
The mini forest will take up 4,500 square feet of MetroTech Commons' eastern triangular lawn. The trees will be maintained using a special planting and irrigation system allowing them to thrive in an urban environment.
Visitors will be able to see the exhibit from an elevated viewing platform installed on one side of the forest, as well as from ground level.
Finch, a Brooklyn-based artist, partnered with the Save the Redwoods League to map out the topography and canopy heights of the section of forest he is recreating, which is protected and currently inaccessible.
“In a world where climate change is at the core of societal debates, Finch’s installation in the heart of one of the most urbanized neighborhoods of the city presents us with the universal reality of nature’s power to awe and inspire, and the importance to remember and protect such wonders,” Associate Curator Emma Enderby said in a statement.
When the exhibit closes, the trees will be brought to a new location, but it wasn't clear where that would be.
The exhibit is free to the public and will be open through March 11, 2018.