Ladder
2025
2025
Ladder, 2025, wood, fallen fragments from 52 of the world’s most renowned ancient trees, 230 × 105 × 85 cm
Ladder (2025) contains fallen branches and pieces of bark gathered from a global selection of fifty-two ancient trees—among the oldest and most well-known in the world. Many grow in secret or hard-to-reach habitats for protection. Over several years, a coordinated process collected their naturally shed parts. Using Google Maps, collaborators near selected trees were contacted by email, WhatsApp, or phone to help source materials. Their ages span a few hundred to several thousand years. Many carry distinct cultural-historical significance—for example, trees linked to literary inspiration, religious tradition, and novel legal recognition. To underscore the work’s intimate dimension, material from a beloved childhood hideout tree was also incorporated. The minimalist, almost industrial-style ladder was crafted by carpenter István Komjáthy.
Human and plant temporalities diverge sharply: human time is subjective and event-centered; plant time follows strict external and internal rhythms. Human time is linear, plant time cyclical. Humans live with finitude; for plants, time entails exposure, adaptation, repetition, and renewal. The time span of a tree growing for centuries or millennia exceeds human experience. Across cultures, ancient trees symbolize permanence, immortality, and the transience of human life, demanding a shift in perspective: a millennia-old tree outlasts individuals, empires, civilizations, entire eras. Constructed numerical time and narrative compulsions can create the illusion that trees “witness” human history; biologically, our scale is negligible. This anthropocentric projection exposes the limits of fully understanding plant existence. The ladder, an ancient emblem of inquiry, uses industrial, austere, functional woodwork—standardized sizing and everyday form—to dismantle illusions attached to ancient trees. Wood sourced from distant regions is integrated—like Earth’s ecosystem—into a single system, evoking a unified, deeply interwoven planetary garden.
The sculpture incorporates material from the following trees:
General Sherman (United States) — giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) — 2,700 years old
President Tree (United States) — giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) — 3,200 years old
Hangman’s Elm (United States) — elm (Ulmus sp.) — 310 years old
Kongeegen (Denmark) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 1,500–2,000 years old
The Major Oak (United Kingdom) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 1,100 years old
The Ivenack Oaks (Germany) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 1,000–1,200 years old
El Árbol del Tule (Mexico) — Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) — 1,500–3,000 years old
Methuselah (United States) — Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) — 4,853 years old
Pando (United States) — quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) — 16,000–18,000 years old
Fortingall Yew (United Kingdom) — common yew (Taxus baccata) — 2,000–5,000 years old
Llangernyw Yew (United Kingdom) — common yew (Taxus baccata) — 4,000–5,000 years old
Sarv-e Abarkuh (Iran) — Persian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) — 4,000–5,000 years old
The Sagole Baobab (South Africa) — African baobab (Adansonia digitata) — 1,200–1,300 years old
The Huon Pine (Tasmania, Australia) — Huon pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii) — 3,000–4,000 years old
Tree That Owns Itself (United States) — white oak (Quercus alba) — 200 years old
Buttonball Tree (United States) — American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) — 350 years old
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi (Sri Lanka) — sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) — 2,308 years old
Castagno dei Cento Cavalli (Italy) — sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) — 3,000–4,000 years old
Prison Tree (Australia) — boab (Adansonia gregorii) — 1,500 years old
Olive Tree of Ano Vouves (Greece) — European olive (Olea europaea) — 2,000–3,000 years old
Olivastro di Luras (Italy) — European olive (Olea europaea) — 3,000–4,000 years old
O Patriarca (Brazil) — jequitibá-branco (Cariniana legalis) — 2,000 years old
Alerce Milenario (Chile) — Patagonian cypress (Fitzroya cupressoides) — 5,200 years old
Goethe-Ginkgo (Germany) — ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) — 250 years old
Cipresso di San Francesco (Italy) — Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) — 800 years old
Il Quercione di Pinocchio (Italy) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 600 years old
Olivo dei 30 zoccoli (Italy) — European olive (Olea europaea) — 2,000 years old
Olivo della Strega (Italy) — European olive (Olea europaea) — 3,500 years old
750-jährige Zirbe (Austria) — Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) — 750 years old
Sobreiro Monumental (Portugal) — cork oak (Quercus suber) — 236 years old
Olivier millénaire de Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (France) — European olive (Olea europaea) — 2,000 years old
Gümeli Porsuğu (Turkey) — common yew (Taxus baccata) — 4,113 years old
Seven Sisters Oak (United States) — southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) — 1,500 years old
Foo de Tee (Italy) — European beech (Fagus sylvatica) — 500 years old
Stelmužės ąžuolas (Lithuania) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 1,500–2,000 years old
The Eternal Sisters (Lebanon) — olive (Olea europaea) — 5,000 years old
Newton’s Apple Tree (United Kingdom) — apple (Malus domestica) — 400 years old
Thimmamma Marrimanu (India) — banyan (Ficus benghalensis) — 550–650 years old
Square Viviani Black Locust (France) — black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) — 418 years old
Tiglio di Napoleone (Italy) — small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata) — 350 years old
Schenklengsfeld Dorflinde (Germany) — linden (Tilia sp.) — 1,257 years old
Italus (Italy) — Balkan pine (Pinus heldreichii) — 1,230 years old
Old Veteran of Point Lobos (United States) — Monterey cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa) — 300–400 years old
Tausendjährige Eiche (Austria) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 1,200 years old
Kandelaberfichte (Austria) — Norway spruce (Picea abies) — 600 years old
Santa Gertrude (Italy) — European larch (Larix decidua) — 2,300 years old
Jōmon Sugi (Japan) — Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) — 4,000–7,200 years old
Le Cèdre Bossu (Morocco) — Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) — 900–1,000 years old
Kamō no Ōkusu (Japan) — giant camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora) — 1,500–2,000 years old
Pouakani (New Zealand) — tōtara (Podocarpus totara) — 1,800 years old
Zsennye Oak (Hungary) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 700 years old
Tamas Dezsö’s Favorite Childhood Tree (Hungary) — English oak (Quercus robur) — 80–100 years old
