A fully-grown forest has taken root in an Austrian football stadium after climate activists planted trees to show what it might look like in a future when greenery becomes so rare people go to stadiums to view it.
A fully-grown forest has taken root in an Austrian football stadium after climate activists planted trees to show what it might look like in a future when greenery becomes so rare people go to stadiums to view it.
Video Credit: CEN/FOR FOREST
The idea, that saw hundreds of trees take root in the Woerthersee football stadium, in the Austrian city of Klagenfurt, was part of an art project that was first thought up some 30 years ago.
The project creator, Klaus Littman, produced a hand coloured image showing a forest of trees in a huge stadium surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people, which in turn is surrounded by a mega city.
The image was entitled “the Unending Attraction of Nature” and portrayed a world in which trees became so rare that people went to stadiums in order to watch them.
The stadium project, titled “For Forest” was made possible, with support from the local council with the football team that normally uses the 30,000-seat stadium and that is in Austria’s second league currently being moved to a smaller facility nearby.
The project was unveiled against the backdrop of forest fires in the Amazon, and news that a long dry spell, together with insect pests, are devastating Austrian forests.
Speaking about the project, the artist said: “I want to challenge our perception of nature and sharpen our awareness of the future relationship between nature and humankind.”
He continued: “This project is also a warning that nature, which we now take for granted, might someday only be found in specially assigned spaces, as is already the case with zoo animals.”
The project will end on 27th October, with the trees uprooted and moved to locations nearby to minimise the carbon footprint.
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Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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