Image courtesy of the 2012 Berlin Biennale
The versatile young artist leads a talk on the significance of the tree in contemporary art, from the poetic to the political
At London's Whitechapel Gallery, Łukasz Surowiec (born 1985 in Rzeszów) shares his reflections on his project Berlin-Birkenau, which consisted of transporting hundreds of birch-tree seedlings from the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp to Berlin, where the project was part of the 2012 Berlin Biennale. The seedlings have now taken root in the city, representing a "living archive" of history in the parks and public spaces of Berlin. It is a symbolic gesture, bringing a painful episode of Germany's history back to the source. At each location where the birches are planted around the German capital, a plaque reads:
In November 2011, the Polish artist Łukasz Surowiec brought 320 birches from the area around the former concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau to Berlin, to work against forgetting. The trees are spread over the whole city. They were planted with support from the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art.
Visitors to the biennale were also invited to take seedlings home and plant them in a spot of their choice.
Łukasz Surowiec presents his project, followed by a discussion on the significance of the tree in contemporary art from conceptual, metaphorical and political perspectives, on the 22nd of November at 7:00 p.m. Booking is required for this event.
For more information, see: www.whitechapelgallery.org
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: Press information