PoliNations Trees at Shangri-La

In 2022, giant architectural trees created a canopy over a spectacular pop-up garden in Birmingham. PoliNations was a celebration of colour, beauty, and natural diversity. An urban oasis for everyone to explore, enjoy and be their true unique selves. 

Now, in a brand new collaboration with Shangri-La at Glastonbury Festival 2025, the PoliNations Trees form the visual feature of the festival’s main stage arena. The rewilding of the 40 foot trees highlight the urgent need to protect our natural world and reimagine our relationship with the environment amongst the distractions of modern life. 

Originally, the PoliNations Trees were created for a super garden in Birmingham’s Victoria Square in 2022, where they formed a canopy and collected rainwater to feed the living oasis of 6,000 living plants, celebrating the fact that 80% of UK city garden plants originate from overseas. Led creatively by Trigger and Creative Director and Joint CEO Angie Bual, the trees were brought to life with a wider creative team of designers, architects and horticulturalists.  

A new beginning for the trees is integral to Shangri-La’s 2025 theme - The Wilding. The trees take new life in a space steeped in experience of shaping the stories of beauty, rage and hope across humanity - aligning with the core values of Trigger’s work in creating transformative public art experiences. 

The movement of the trees to Shangri-La Glastonbury will shine a light on the importance of planting new roots and celebrating the uncovering of shared histories and stories. PoliNations began as an invitation to rethink our relationship with migration, identity, and belonging. 

The Shangri-La stage will be surrounded by the PoliNations Trees, now reimagined to explore themes of love, loss and land. The arena will bring a raw and defiant energy soundtracked by Shangri-La’s most eclectic, boundary-pushing lineup yet and a nightly AV spectacular not to be missed.  

The giant PoliNations’ trees, created from repurposed materials, will embody the power of natural diversity, and stand as living monuments to the interconnectedness of people, plants and place.