Control Group’s 4th project series
Treeline
A meditation on disappearing wilderness.
An Anthropocene call to action.
Treeline is an ongoing works series exploring human relationships with nature and wilderness in the Anthropocene Era, in pursuit of a new balance between survival, awe, and stewardship.
Through site-based immersive experiences, Treeline aims to transform individuals' personal encounters with harmony and natural beauty into shared experiences within the natural world.
Treeline takes us deeper into our own world journeying through high alpine zones, wildland-urban interface spaces, desert waterways, wildfire burn areas, pollution plumes, and accidental greenways.
By intertwining histories, ecologies, cultural practices, personal ancestries, and artistic visions, Treeline strives to raise awareness about climate change, revive spiritual connections to the land, and inspire action for environmental harmony and justice.
Hold on to what is good,
even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe,
even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do,
even if it is a long way from here.
nancy wood, 1974
Recent and current projects include:
After the Flood (June 2021): a nature walk and climate action parable in South Platte Park.
burn scar (October 2021): a visual exhibition from the East Troublesome burn area.
Tent (August 2021 - April 2022): a story-telling exchange along and about the South Platte River.
THE END (June-July 2022; ongoing): a bus tour of Denver’s climate future.
Canopy (October 2022): a leaf-peeping meditation on the nature of trees.
Strange Natures (May- June 2023): A queer look at our changing world distorted through glitter and plastic.
Bitter Moon (December 2023): Control Group’s final journey through the seasons into midwinter. In collaboration with Alpine Artist Collective.
And if you're interested in what maps and legends we're guiding our journeys by right now, here's our current reading list:
Western lands, waters, and ecologies
Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner
Deadpool by James Lawrence Powell
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
Desert Cabal by Amy Irvine
Desert Notebooks by Ben Ehrenreich
Peaks, Plateaus, and Plains by Allen B. Crockett
Ecological harmonies & cultural histories
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Earth Path by Starhawk
Facing Gaia by Bruno LaTour
Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
Permaculture: A Designer's Manual By Bill Mollison
Full Ecology by Mary M. Clare & Gary Ferguson
The Lost Words by Robert MacFarlane
The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane
Cheyenne Memories by John Stands in Timber
An Indigenous People's History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Climate futures
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
Ministry for the Future and other climate fiction by Kim Stanley Robinson
Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy Mcginnis
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
Science in the Capitol trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
MaddAddam trilogy by Margaret Atwood
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Always Coming Home by Ursula LeGuin
Upstream by Mary Oliver
Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo
How We Became Human by Joy Harjo
Change at work
Climate and Environment reporting by National Public Radio, Colorado Public Radio, KUNC, the New York Times, Westword, and other sources
2021 Sustaining Colorado Watersheds conference
IPCC publications 2005-present