The branch we’re sitting on

Competition Art-in-Public-Space Headquarters of Bundesverband Deutscher Gatenfreunde (Federal Association of German Allotment Gardeners), Hermannstraße, Berlin; 2023

Three of the figures were realized in 2024/25 for a private garden near Bad Mergentheim.

Material: Stainless steel sheet, laser-cut; surface ground, 6 mm; tubes: stainless steel, 60 mm diameter
Dimensions: Figures: between 100–147 cm wide (depending on motif); objects overall between 360–400 cm high

Description
The idea of designing gardens as materializations of an ideal sphere — for example of paradise, the world of the gods, or even as a model of the entire cosmos — reaches far back into cultural history. It can already be traced in ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia. Through the Islamic garden tradition it extends into the European gardens of the Renaissance and Baroque. Even the tradition of the “natural” landscape park is shaped by this idealization. Alongside certain plant species, this claim is also emphasized through the deliberate arrangement of artifacts, such as architectures and sculptures, which are related to one another. The recognition of these relationships or the discussion of them by visitors was an intended component of such designs (examples: Bomarzo or Weikersheim).

In this sense, I propose a circle of seven figures made of laser-cut stainless steel on tubular posts, which are set up like street signs around the tree in the garden. This tree forms the point of reference on the property and is thus metaphorically included in the project. However, one figure should break out of the circle into the forecourt and thus be visible already from the street (motif WEED). The figures are oriented with the cut edge facing the tree, like the spokes of a wheel. Depending on the perspective, they are therefore not all visible at once, but only gradually reveal themselves as one moves around the tree. The posts should all stand slightly tilted, so that one has the impulse to want to straighten them.

Motifs
The motifs are designed like birdhouses, taking up typical forms of allotment or garden-house architecture. On the pole of these “birdhouses” sit contemporary figures engaged in various allegorical-symbolic occupations. The designations in the drafts are not to be understood as titles, but rather as themes which inspired the design of the figure. They discuss different aspects of our relationship to the environment and can serve, within the framework of the “green classroom,” as points of departure for discussion.

Thus, the angel figure in the motif HARVEST forms a metaphysical counter-image to the boy who is about to spear one “fruit” after another onto his arrow.

The motif WEED is determined by the juxtaposition of a realistic and a stylized plant depiction. Visually, root system, circuit board, and veins are connected here.

In CLIMATE CHANGE, a tamer holds up a flaming ring through which three wild geese must fly, thus referring to the interconnection of biological networks.

OXYGEN, the basis of all higher life on earth, exists in its available form as a by-product of photosynthesis. Accordingly, the girl in this motif presents the chemical formula O₂ in a wreath of honor, while at the same time raising an axe...

One of the foundations for the enormous growth of the world’s population in the 20th century was the development of synthetic AMMONIA (NH₃) as a starting material for fertilizer production. This motif stands generally for the theme of bioengineering. The industrialization of agriculture is today continued through transgenic seed. In the search for water, an armed (garden) gnome with a divining rod assists, who as an earth spirit at the same time refers to a non-economic, animistic understanding of the earth.

HARD TIMES. Small animal keeping played a role in the allotment garden in the past, for example in the proverbial “hard times” after the last world war. Rabbits and chickens were on the one hand cute objects of empathy for children, but at the same time visibly served as sources of meat. This contradiction was surely disturbing for children, but also made the origin and value of this food tangible.

HARMFULL ORGANISM. The young man holds in his arm a sign with the image of a snail, whose shell is represented as a light bulb. The snail is certainly the arch-enemy of the small gardener. Yet, like all organisms living in and on the soil, it has great ecological significance for the renewal of the humus layer. So: Who owns the world?

Wolf von Waldow, 2023