Oak, Who Are You...? Trees in Public Art Projects: From Regime, Through Domestication to Wildness

How have artists working in the public space approached trees in recent decades? What have the artworks utilizing these majestic plant organisms told us about our relationship with nature? In reference to the questions listed above, in this article we want to take a fresh and critical look at the presence of trees (as art objects) in public spaces of contemporary cities. Our starting point is a critique of Joseph Beuys’ work 7000 Oaks, realized between 1982 and 1987 in the German city of Kassel. We argue that Beuys’ work diverged from his own concept of art as Social Sculpture; and the realization of this concept is only possible today when we have adopted different starting positions in our relationship with trees (as organisms) and urban nature as a whole. Considering the changes that have occurred in the discourse surrounding the role of public art in environmental debates, we also want to draw attention to the emergence of new models of artist (human)/plant relationships. Such models can be found in contemporary references to Beuys’ Kassel project, which were developed based on slightly different premises than those guiding the original work and its direct continuations. Complementing our reflections, we refer to local artistic projects realized in Warsaw, in which trees played important roles. We mention the publication Atlas of All Inhabitants co-created by Fundacja Puszka and the human/non-human inhabitants of Warsaw (2022), as well as an inter-species exhibition presented within the framework of the Bio/Diverse Summer program at the square of the Nowy Theatre (Fundacja Puszka, 2023).

How have artists working in the public space approached trees in recent decades? What have the artworks utilizing these majestic plant organisms told us about our relationship with nature? In reference to the questions listed above, in this article we want to take a fresh and critical look at the presence of trees (as art objects) in public spaces of contemporary cities. Our starting point is a critique of Joseph Beuys’ work 7000 Oaks, realized between 1982 and 1987 in the German city of Kassel. We argue that Beuys’ work diverged from his own concept of art as Social Sculpture; and the realization of this concept is only possible today when we have adopted different starting positions in our relationship with trees (as organisms) and urban nature as a whole. Considering the changes that have occurred in the discourse surrounding the role of public art in environmental debates, we also want to draw attention to the emergence of new models of artist (human)/plant relationships. Such models can be found in contemporary references to Beuys’ Kassel project, which were developed based on slightly different premises than those guiding the original work and its direct continuations. Complementing our reflections, we refer to local artistic projects realized in Warsaw, in which trees played important roles. We mention the publication Atlas of All Inhabitants co-created by Fundacja Puszka and the human/non-human inhabitants of Warsaw (2022), as well as an inter-species exhibition presented within the framework of the Bio/Diverse Summer program at the square of the Nowy Theatre (Fundacja Puszka, 2023).