A “space as event” project for the Hand Art Center in collaboration with the Institute of Water and Environmental Resilience at Stetson University, Deland, FL, the Forest of Arden Annex is conceived as both a spatial manifestation of the collaborative effort required for its construction, and as an appropriation of a residual space within the fabric of the Stetson University campus.  Led by Gerard Nadeau--founder of Art of Space and assistant professor at the Hammons School of Architecture, Drury University--members of the general public, the Stetson University community, and the museum staff constructed the Annex in six days during the last week of June, 2015.

The Forest of Arden Annex is a temporary, participatory public art project woven from over 10,000 linear feet of custom milled wood slats, held together by friction and the elastic springback of the material.  Except for bolt connections to stakes driven into the ground, no fasteners or adhesives were used to create the woven, structural surface.  Constrained by a ground plan of three six-foot diameter circles, set fifteen feet apart,  the emergent form and space occurred as the result of combined method, material properties, and gravity. Developed to encourage space-making by the broadest possible range of volunteers, the weaving technique utilized 4’x 1 ½”x 3/16” strips of hemlock/fir.

The campus location, named the “Forest of Arden” after the woodland setting of William Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy “As You Like It,” inspired the decision to create an organic parasol for the project.  In a further nod to the play, and as an additional layer of meaning, the public was invited to inscribe wood slats with answers to the question “What is nature?” before being woven into the structure.