A Forest in a Stadium
John Hill
8. mai 2019
Max Peintner's "The Unending Attraction of Nature" from 1970-71, hand colored by Klaus Littmann in 2018 (Image: Max Peintner)
Later this year, Klaus Littmann will turn Wörthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt, Austria, into a temporary art intervention inspired by Max Peintner's 50-year-old drawing The Unending Attraction of Nature.
FOR FOREST – The Unending Attraction of Nature, as it's being called, will take over the field of the 12-year-old stadium from September 9 to October 27, 2019. Per the FOR FOREST website, "Littmann aims to challenge our perception of nature and question its future. Furthermore, the project seeks to become a memorial, reminding us that nature, which we so often take for granted, may someday only be found in specially designated spaces, as is already the case with animals in zoos." News of the intervention comes as protesters across Europe are drawing attention to the inaction of world leaders over climate change.
Wörthersee Stadium (Image: FOR FOREST)
Littmann is working with Swizerland's Enea Landscape Architecture, who will transplant around 300 trees over the existing grass to "give the impression of a native central European forest." The intervention's autumn time frame means the trees should change colors and resemble Littmann's hand-colored rendition of Peintner's drawing at top. After FOR FOREST's two-month run, the trees, which have already been sourced and are being staged near the stadium, will be planted permanently elsewhere in Klagenfurt.
