FOR FOREST – The Unending Attraction of Nature is a temporary art intervention by Klaus Littmann that will transform Wrthersee football stadium in Klagenfurt into Austria’s largest public art installation from 9 September – 27 October 2019.
Inspired by The Unending Attraction of Nature, a dystopian drawing by Austrian artist and architect Max Peintner (b. 1937) that Littmann discovered almost thirty years ago, FOR FOREST finally brings that vision to life. Through this monumental installation Littmann aims to challenge our perception of nature and question its future.
Overseen by Enea Landscape Architecture, around 300 trees, some weighing up to six tons each, will be carefully transplanted over the existing football pitch to give the impression of a native central European forest. Once transplanted the forest will take on a life of its own, change colours as the season turns and attract wildlife.
Seating up to 30,000 spectators, the surroundings of Wrthersee Stadium will dramatically shape the visitor experience. From 10am until 10pm daily, audiences will experience a unique panorama of trees, day and night, under natural light or by floodlight. Encountering FOR FOREST will trigger a multiplicity of responses and emotions, and depending on the time of day or night the trees will form an ever-changing landscape.
After the free art intervention at the stadium ends on 27 October 2019, the forest will be carefully replanted on a public site in close proximity to Wrthersee Stadium at a scale of 1:1 and remain as a living ‘forest sculpture’. Parallel to this, a pavilion will be built in order to document the project for the long-term.
The journey to realising FOR FOREST traces a line back to exhibitions Littmann curated and produced such as Fussball in der Vitrine (with Jehle) in 1982 in Basel; Kultort Stadion, Basel 2003; Faces of Football, Vigo, 2008; Move for Life, Lyon, 2011; Real Fiction Cinema (touring installation), 2010-2012 (Switzerland)/ 2015-2016 (China) and Jardin des Plantes, Basel 2018. These projects among others reveal Littmann’s longstanding interest in the relationship of popular culture with art.
Born in 1951, Klaus Littmann lives and works in Basel, Switzerland. Littmann studied at Dsseldorf Art Academy with Josef Beuys and established himself as a mediator of contemporary art.
Max Peintner was born in 1937 in Hall in Tirol (Austria) and lives and works in Vienna. Peintner studied civil engineering at the Technical University of Vienna and architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Listings information:
FOR FOREST
9 September – 27 October 2019
Wrthersee Stadium
Sdring 207
9020 Klagenfurt
Austria
Open 10am – 10pm | Daily (including public holidays) | Free Entry
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