Klaus Littmann: Tree Connections

An outsize land-art installation confronts the dystopian reality of climate change and deforestation In Tree Connections , Swiss curator and artist Klaus Littmann (born 1978) presents his commanding response to humanity’s increasing estrangement from nature. Upon discovering Max Peinter’s dystopian drawing The Unending Attraction of Nature , Littmann was struck by the idea that “what makes us put animals in zoos could also happen to nature.” He resolved in that moment to bring Peinter’s vision to life; after years of searching and negotiation, Littmann finally secured a fitting site for his intervention. Enlisting the help of the landscape architect Enzo Enea, he successfully transformed the Wörthersee football stadium in Klagenfurt, Austria, into a native Central European forest. For two months during the fall of 2019, the stadium housed approximately 300 trees of diverse species that stood on a constructed “forest floor.” Today, the forest remains in proximity to the Wörthersee, reincarnated as a “forest sculpture” accessible to all. Tree Connections traces the evolution of Littmann’s project, urging readers to face the unsettling trajectory of the Anthropocene.