Artists
Sculpture Forest Sanctuary
Sculpture Forest Sanctuary, 2020
Installation view Gherdeina biennial
Courtesy: Antje Majewski, (c) Antje Majewski, (c) VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Sculpture Forest Sanctuary is a collaborative project
involving artists from various different regions of the world: Paweł Althamer, Agnieszka Brzeżańska, Alioune Diouf, Cecilia Edefalk, Paweł Freisler, Antje Majewski, Gregor Prugger, Hervé Yamguen, and Paulina
Kondraskov. It is organized by Antje Majewski.
A group of sculptures is permanently installed in a forest. The sculptures are made of wood or other natural materials. Over time they disintegrate completely. In exchange for installing the sculptures, the forest owner(s) relinquish their rights to the forest for a longer period of no less than one hundred years. During that time, the forest can no longer be used or entered, except for a path leading to the sculptures. Sculptures in the Sculpture Forest Sanctuary act as
“guardian spirits,” ensuring that no one enters the forest.
Sculpture Forest Sanctuary
features twice in Fellbach: first as a permanent installation in a forested nature reserve near Fellbach, but also at the Alte Kelter, the Triennial exhibition venue. Almost all sculptures in the forest group were created in the context of the Sculpture Forest Sanctuary’s initial
realization for the 2020 Biennale Gherdëina,(1) where
one group was also installed in the forest, while a second group waited for a future forest - which is now in Fellbach. Likewise, new sculptures will be produced for Fellbach; these will then be on view at the Triennial exhibition venue, where they await the next, future forest.
Germany is among the countries with the most intensive land use worldwide; only about 1 % of its forests could be described as “virgin forest.” One model for protective forests are the “sacred groves” or sacred woods (bois sacrée, Feng Shui forests) such as those in South China or West Africa, for example, where they are traditionally located close to villages. Medicinal herbs grow in these woods, which are also home to special burial sites. These forests serve an important spiritual and ecological function for the village and they cannot be used or felled.
Our hope is that Sculpture Forest Sanctuary enables a new respect for the other creatures and ecosystems with which our lives are so closely intertwined, but which also exist independently of us. An important part of the work consists in legal and
economic discussions around the problem that European law does not recognize “non-property” land/territory, even though all land was once non-property. Taking forest areas out of use for one hundred years is only an intermediate step - it would be even better to understand that any ownership of land and
ecosystems is a fiction. What new kinds of ecological
economy, what new legal concepts would we need to
achieve this?
(1) Biennale Gherdeina: Antje Majewski
https://www.biennalegherdeina.org/antje-majewski
Text: Antje Majewski
Sculpture Forest Sanctuary is a collaborative project
involving artists from various different regions of the world: Paweł Althamer, Agnieszka Brzeżańska, Alioune Diouf, Cecilia Edefalk, Paweł Freisler, Antje Majewski, Gregor Prugger, Hervé Yamguen, and Paulina
Kondraskov. It is organized by Antje Majewski.
A group of sculptures is permanently installed in a forest. The sculptures are made of wood or other natural materials. Over time they disintegrate completely. In exchange for installing the sculptures, the forest owner(s) relinquish their rights to the forest for a longer period of no less than one hundred years. During that time, the forest can no longer be used or entered, except for a path leading to the sculptures. Sculptures in the Sculpture Forest Sanctuary act as
“guardian spirits,” ensuring that no one enters the forest.
Sculpture Forest Sanctuary
features twice in Fellbach: first as a permanent installation in a forested nature reserve near Fellbach, but also at the Alte Kelter, the Triennial exhibition venue. Almost all sculptures in the forest group were created in the context of the Sculpture Forest Sanctuary’s initial
realization for the 2020 Biennale Gherdëina,(1) where
one group was also installed in the forest, while a second group waited for a future forest - which is now in Fellbach. Likewise, new sculptures will be produced for Fellbach; these will then be on view at the Triennial exhibition venue, where they await the next, future forest.
Germany is among the countries with the most intensive land use worldwide; only about 1 % of its forests could be described as “virgin forest.” One model for protective forests are the “sacred groves” or sacred woods (bois sacrée, Feng Shui forests) such as those in South China or West Africa, for example, where they are traditionally located close to villages. Medicinal herbs grow in these woods, which are also home to special burial sites. These forests serve an important spiritual and ecological function for the village and they cannot be used or felled.
Our hope is that Sculpture Forest Sanctuary enables a new respect for the other creatures and ecosystems with which our lives are so closely intertwined, but which also exist independently of us. An important part of the work consists in legal and
economic discussions around the problem that European law does not recognize “non-property” land/territory, even though all land was once non-property. Taking forest areas out of use for one hundred years is only an intermediate step - it would be even better to understand that any ownership of land and
ecosystems is a fiction. What new kinds of ecological
economy, what new legal concepts would we need to
achieve this?
(1) Biennale Gherdeina: Antje Majewski
https://www.biennalegherdeina.org/antje-majewski
Text: Antje Majewski