Someday the only forests on Earth will exist in a stadium
September 17, 2019 7:43 AM Subscribe
Nature as a spectator sport: For Forest is a temporary landscape installation in the Wörthersee Stadium, a football (US: soccer) stadium in Klagenfurt, from 8 September until 27 October 2019, when it will be Austria's largest public art installation. Its designer, Klaus Littmann, was inspired by "The Unending Attraction of Nature" (1970/71) by Max Peintner, turning a dystopian vision of the 1970s into a spectacular work of land art [via BoringPostcards on MltShp].
And because this is 2019, nothing artistic or climate-related is without its "controversy" and literal push-back against the artist.
And because this is 2019, nothing artistic or climate-related is without its "controversy" and literal push-back against the artist.
Metafilter: it was apparently impossible to eradicate the falsehoods they kept chanting like prayers
posted by q*ben at 8:36 AM on September 17, 2019
posted by q*ben at 8:36 AM on September 17, 2019
Can you just...transplant that many trees in a (relatively) short timeline? (My houseplants don’t even like going on car trips when I move ha)
I checked the FAQ but maybe it’s common knowledge how this is done without huge stress to the root system.
posted by zinful at 9:05 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I checked the FAQ but maybe it’s common knowledge how this is done without huge stress to the root system.
posted by zinful at 9:05 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I was wondering the same thing, zinful. Tree transplantation is a thing that is widely done, of course, so presumably the duration of the installation was planned around the amount of time that the trees could withstand being removed from soil.
Perhaps there are some German-speaking MeFites who have more information about the logistics?
(As for the "controversy", I'm reminded of this Jacob Gellar video essay entitled "Who's Afraid of Modern Art?")
posted by tobascodagama at 9:11 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
Perhaps there are some German-speaking MeFites who have more information about the logistics?
(As for the "controversy", I'm reminded of this Jacob Gellar video essay entitled "Who's Afraid of Modern Art?")
posted by tobascodagama at 9:11 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I have no faith that if this was a rich, celebrated artist man's idea that they put any thought whatsoever into the well-being of the trees. Once you're rich and celebrated enough to have the access to do something like this you stop thinking about anyone else automatically. It's like a valve in your brain just slams shut.
posted by bleep at 9:14 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by bleep at 9:14 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
When I first saw this I thought they had taken over an abandoned stadium and I was like oh good, cool. Knowing that it's temporary just stresses me out on behalf of the trees, leave the trees alone and let them live.
posted by bleep at 9:15 AM on September 17, 2019
posted by bleep at 9:15 AM on September 17, 2019
well being of the trees
this was my initial thought too but supposedly the piece is meant to be long lasting, just at a nearby location.
If really-big-tree transplantation is A Thing though, I guess they’ll do whatever they normally do. I think I’m just extra worried about our fellow travelers the photosynthesizers since reading Hidden Lives of Trees and learning how their root systems are more...”pseudo” social than we expected as mammals.
posted by zinful at 9:46 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
this was my initial thought too but supposedly the piece is meant to be long lasting, just at a nearby location.
If really-big-tree transplantation is A Thing though, I guess they’ll do whatever they normally do. I think I’m just extra worried about our fellow travelers the photosynthesizers since reading Hidden Lives of Trees and learning how their root systems are more...”pseudo” social than we expected as mammals.
posted by zinful at 9:46 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
This is a literal nightmare I have occasionally, where I'm out conducting research but the forest is actually in a stadium fill of spectators.
posted by ChuraChura at 11:47 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by ChuraChura at 11:47 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I saw a sign for this over the weekend (just the words 'For Forest' and some dates on a banner on the side of a bridge over the Autobahn with no other context) and wondered what it was all about. I live about half an hour from Klagenfurt. I'll try to swing by and take a look before they dismantle it.
tobascodogama: Tree transplantation is a thing that is widely done, of course, so presumably the duration of the installation was planned around the amount of time that the trees could withstand being removed from soil.
Perhaps there are some German-speaking MeFites who have more information about the logistics?
The FAQ in English covers some of this. The trees were selected from area nurseries. It seems they're not planted directly in the existing soil inside the stadium, i.e. they're taking precautions to not damage the stadium's turf. I do speak German, so if you noticed a German-language-only resource that might have more information, I'd be happy to take a look at it.
posted by syzygy at 1:51 PM on September 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
tobascodogama: Tree transplantation is a thing that is widely done, of course, so presumably the duration of the installation was planned around the amount of time that the trees could withstand being removed from soil.
Perhaps there are some German-speaking MeFites who have more information about the logistics?
The FAQ in English covers some of this. The trees were selected from area nurseries. It seems they're not planted directly in the existing soil inside the stadium, i.e. they're taking precautions to not damage the stadium's turf. I do speak German, so if you noticed a German-language-only resource that might have more information, I'd be happy to take a look at it.
posted by syzygy at 1:51 PM on September 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
"They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum,
And they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em.
Don't is always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone
They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot."
--Joni Mitchell
posted by Archer25 at 8:09 AM on September 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
And they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em.
Don't is always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone
They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot."
--Joni Mitchell
posted by Archer25 at 8:09 AM on September 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
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posted by gwint at 8:02 AM on September 17, 2019 [2 favorites]