'When This Tree Blossoms' with Frank Abbott & Rachel Jacobs

When This Tree Blossoms was first initiated in 2018, when resident artists Frank Abbott and Rachel Jacobs followed the blossoming of the cherry trees in Christ Church Gardens, Ilkeston Rd, located just across the road from Primary. That year they shared a short video message inviting people from across the world to watch the blossom online via a live webcam stream, before asking spectators living locally to join them at the trees when it was agreed that they had blossomed.

This year the trees blossomed on Wednesday 31 March, during a short heatwave. In the run up to the event children from Mellers Primary School in Radford had been watching as the trees in Christ Church Gardens showed signs of beginning to blossom. They carried out activities to celebrate the Spring, including making light-up boxes to be hung from the trees and leaving messages for the future, on the Future Machine. Developed by Rachel Jacobs the Future Machine travels and collects messages for the future from the people who gather around it.

In April, after the trees had blossomed the Future Machine appeared, and the boxes created by the children of Mellers Primary School were lit up and suspended from the tree. In line with Covid-19 guidelines the number of people that could meet together at the trees was limited, so a short film was made by Rachel and Frank to document and mark the event, which will take place again next Spring, hopefully without restrictions. 

When This Tree Blossoms is part of a large national project called When The Future Comes (2020 – 2050) – a series of artist interventions taking place in Nottingham, London, Cumbria, Oxfordshire and Somerset, each is witnessed by a mysterious and mystical device – the Future Machine. A newly formed ritual or special occasion takes place as the Future Machine appears. It will appear in the same place, every year for the next 30 years. The next stop on the Future Machine’s journey around the country is Somerset, where it will appear in July as part of a collaboration with Primary Resident Caroline Locke.