7000 Oaks – City Forestation Instead of City Administration is a work of land art located in Kassel, Germany. As indicated in the title, this artwork is composed of 7000 oak trees planted throughout the city, and each tree is paired with a columnar basalt stone. The design was first proposed in 1982 by German artist Joseph Beuys, but the planting of all the trees required help from volunteers and five years of work. With this project, Beuys wanted to bring attention to the rapid spread of urbanization in Kassel that was ongoing at the time.
At first, the project was controversial. Some city residents were concerned that it would lead to the removal of parking lots and bring danger to the roadways. In fact, a motorcyclist ended up crashing into one of the basalt stones and losing his life. Other city residents thought that the basalt stones were visually unappealing and placed pink stones by the oak trees in protest. However, as time went on and more and more trees were planted, the city residents became increasingly tolerant and even supportive of the project.
Through 7000 Oaks, Beuys was able to establish a connection between art and the environment in Kassel and show the city residents that they had a greater say in the cityscape than they might have originally thought. By choosing sites and planting trees, they could apply their creativity toward mitigating the negative effects of urbanization, including habitat loss, poor air and water quality, lack of adequate waste disposal, and high energy consumption. Beuys’ artwork has also received support from beyond the city of Kassel, inspiring city dwellers worldwide to take control of their own urban environments.
Word about Beuys’ artwork reached countries such as the United States and England. The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), developed the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership Program in honor of Beuys’ 7000 Oaks. As part of the program, approximately 500 volunteers came together to build the Joseph Beuys Sculpture Park on UMBC campus and plant hundreds of trees in various parks in Baltimore. The goal of the program was to inspire creativity, collaboration, and healing within the UMBC and Baltimore communities.
The Dia Art Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to recognizing, preserving, and extending the vision of artists, extended Beuys’ 7000 Oaks to New York City by planting and maintaining more than 30 oak trees along West 22nd Street. In 2007, British artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey traveled to Kassel and collected acorns from Beuys’ 7000 Oaks. Oak trees grown from these acorns were displayed outside of an art gallery in London called Tate Modern in 2021.
Sources:
http://www.7000eichen.de/?id=24
https://cadvc.umbc.edu/beuys/
https://www.diaart.org/about/press/joseph-beuys-7000-oaks-extended-on-west-22nd-street-new-york-city/type/text
https://www.tate.org.uk/press/press-releases/ackroyd-harvey-install-100-oak-trees-outside-tate-modern