Forest Cathedral transforms the tithe barn at Messums West, with its tree-like beams, into a living forest of light and sound. A kinetic sculpture of branching limbs and mirrored leaves gently moves with air currents created by visitors, filtering light through this forest canopy. Layered shadows animate the floor below while reflected light illuminates the ancient timbers above.

A dimensional soundscape completes the immersion: deep grounding tones of forest floor and root systems rise through rustling mid-range frequencies to the bright presence of canopy birdsong. Forest Cathedral unites light and sound as wavelengths. These wavelengths move through space, connecting visitors with the reflected nature andone another.

Created by Berlin-based artist Andrew Amondson, Forest Cathedral is an understanding as well as an experience. It is a listening. A collaboration between Messums Creative, Forest of Imagination, Bath Spa University and Winchester Cathedral, Forest Cathedral takes the age and material of a 13th Century Barn and reintroduces elements of its sound and senses. “Art holds a mirror up to nature” and so too this experience reflects our own relationships to the forest of our imagination, inviting us to rediscover our shared language with an ecology that is deeply entangled with who we are.

The barn has been listening for 700 years and those echoes are part of our understanding the future. Forest Cathedral is open to all audiences and entry is free of charge. The installation is designed to tour England’s most significant Gothic cathedrals.