In 2019 it Wörthersee stadium in Klagenfurtin Austria, hosted one of the art installations more provocative of recent years. It’s about For Foresta project conceived by art commissioner Klaus Littmann, who transformed the sports space into a real one urban forestwith the inclusion of 300 trees of 18 different species.
The installation, which remained visible for about a month, sparked great debate, addressing crucial issues related to environmental sustainability and climate change. Littmann’s inspiration comes from drawing The Unending Attraction of Nature (1970-71) by Max Peintner, an illustration depicting a future world in which forests become objects to admirelocked up in a stadium, like animals in a zoo.
With this powerful dystopian vision, Peintner had anticipated what is an increasingly urgent topic today: disappearance of natural forests due to urban sprawl and pollution. Littmann decided to translate this image into a real work, creating a forest of mature, well-rooted trees inside a stadium, like warning of the future lost potential of nature.
Nature as an object to be observed only in closed and controlled spaces
The project required years of planning and a collaboration with expert landscapers to ensure the sustainability of the installation. The trees were chosen not only for their beauty but also for their adaptability to the landscape localcoming from Italian nurseries and coming mainly from agricultural areas of Carinthia.
Some specimens, of considerable size, have been arranged on a metal structureto prevent the roots from damaging the lawn below. At the conclusion of the temporary installation, the forest was transplanted in the university area of Klagenfurt.
The experience of For Forest was unique to the audience. Visitors could walk freely among the treesenjoying the view of the surrounding mountains and reflecting on the contradiction of seeing wild nature confined within an artificial environment.
The installation was also an opportunity to ask questions about our own relationship with the environmentsuggesting that, without a change in our habits, nature could one day become an object to be observed only in closed and controlled spaces. For Forest had the merit of leading to a reflection on the importance of protecting the environment not only as an aesthetic value, but as a vital necessity for our existence.
