New sculpture installation at Morton Arboretum opening April 9

The Morton Arboretum has announced new details for an upcoming exhibit of massive sculptures by South African artist Daniel Popper.

The Lisle tree campus ended its wildly popular "Troll Hunt" exhibit to make way for the new art installation. Delayed a year due to the pandemic, Human+Nature will open on April 9.

Popper will construct towering, humanlike figures out of glass-reinforced concrete, fiberglass and steel, with each sculpture weighing several metric tons. The largest ground footprint of the five figures will measure 28 feet wide and 37 feet long.

Arboretum leaders discovered Popper's work on social media. He has built a memorial to anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in South Africa and art installations for music festivals in Portugal and Australia.

But Human+Nature will be his largest and his first major exhibition in the U.S.

"The Morton Arboretum is the ideal place to create interactive art that connects people with trees and nature," Popper said in a statement. "The backdrops at the Arboretum are incredible places to tell stories through art about how we all coexist with trees."

For the previous exhibit, Danish artist Thomas Dambo dispersed giant wooden trolls throughout the arboretum's 1,700 acres. Popper's sculptures will be built in different locations and celebrate the arboretum's conservation work.

"When we talked to him about the themes we wanted to explore, we talked about how trees need people and people need trees," said Sarah Sargent, manager of interpretation and exhibits, when the arboretum first announced the display in 2019. "And we talked about the fact that humans and nature are deeply interconnected and that as we give to trees, they give back to us."

Human+Nature will be included with timed admission for visitors who must reserve tickets in advance. The exhibit is expected to run for at least a year.