I am a nerd and I make no apologies for that fact. My interpretations of life experiences seem to get linked to Star Wars, StarTrek, one of the comic universes, a video game reference, or even an occasional Song of Ice and Fire tie-in.
The impression I got when I first saw the visual representation of the planet Coruscant is one element of the first Star Wars prequel movie Phantom Menace that I will remember. The Thrawn trilogy introduced the planet to book readers in the ’90’s. To see an Earth-sized planet depicted as one big metropolis, an ecumenopolis, was down rite disturbing. I thought then “I’d hate to live on a planet like that”.
Last Friday I read a story on ESPN’s site about a forest planted on a soccer field in Austria. My first thought was Coruscant. Instead of happening “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, we can see this happening right now, and on this planet.
the art
This story begins in 1970 with a drawing by the Austrian artist Max Peintner. You can view Peintner’s drawing here. Honestly, when I first saw his drawing my brain formed a vision of Imperial Home World of Star Wars fame. It made me uncomfortable. Peintner’s image is something you’d expect to see at any sports arena. The difference in this picture is the thousands of fans gathering to cheer a forest. The background of the drawing feels even bleaker; endless city- gray smog.
The drawing inspired Swiss curator Klaus Littmann to turn Peintner’s vision into reality. Littmann created the exhibit for forest; the unending attraction of nature, Austria’s largest public art installation, out of about 300 native middle-European tree species. The exhibit was assembled by a landscape architect and partially funded by “tree sponsors” who donated €5,000 a tree. There are some awesome photos from the BBC, as well as the two links above and the official site linked below.
The stadium is open free to the public the evening, and runs until the end of October. Littmann’s intention is to bring awareness to the loss of forest habitat and global climate change. I’m fairly certain he didn’t deliberately coincide the opening of the exhibit with the current deforestation of the Amazon. His timing though couldn’t be better.
the critics
The exhibit hasn’t been free from detractors. I’ve read arguments about the inconvenience to the soccer team. The exhibit is planted in Wörthersee Stadion in the city of Klagenfurt. The stadium is a 32,000 seat arena built in 2005 to act as one of the host stadiums for the 2008 European Soccer Championship. The team currently playing in the stadium SK Austria Klagenfurt plays in the Austria Football Second League. This particular stadium was chosen specifically because the second tier team contracted to use the stadium does not fill it to capacity.
A quick Google map search shows me the field where the team plays for the duration of the exhibit, Karawankenblick Stadium, is an open air stadium directly next to (to the left in the image below) the larger arena. I’m speculating here; on the google maps image, there is an area labeled “state park” in the lower right (yellow circle). This could be the area where the forest will be replanted after the exhibit ends on the 27th of October?
Ted Talley writing in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette called the exhibition “Foolish” art. Some comments on other art sites have agreed with him claiming this is a waste of resources. Talley argues there was a greater carbon footprint gauged out of the environment by the construction of the exhibit alone than any salient point the art could make. I take issue with the two main elements of his criticism, the cost of lighting to keep the forest open in the evening, and the environmental impact of “earth moving equipment”.
the defense
I live in the Washington DC area. There are four prominent professional sports stadiums within a 40 minute drive. Each stadium, FedEx Field, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, M&T Bank Stadium and Nationals Park would be lit up if I were to drive past any of them tonight. This is a peeve of mine. When I mention this in conversation, someone always responds with a variation of the “well it costs more to turn the lights on and off” rationalization. I would like to think European cities have restrictions on light pollution from unused stadiums, unfortunately this is rarely the case in the US.
The official site of the exhibition tells me the forest is planted over top a bed of planks laid on the pitch with dirt covering the root balls. From what I can gather much of this work is done in a tight environment by small equipment similar to the bobcat small loaders we have here in the US. It feels like a bit of an embellishment to envision a stadium filled with diesel fumes and earth-mover dust. Yes, vehicle emissions are a by product of the planting and relocation of the forest, but are these harmful effects enough to condemn the positive emotional impact of a powerful artistic statement?
the fine line between reality and science fiction
Constantinos Doxiadis proposed the idea of an ecumenopolis in the 60’s before George Lucas came up with the idea of Coruscant or Peintner drew his drawing (but not long before). Doxiadis coined the term to describe a theoretical mega European metropolis. There is a place in the Star Wars universe called “Monument Plaza”. It’s a park in located in one of the wealthiest districts of Coruscant. There among the restaurants and shops, stands the last piece of undeveloped terrain on the planet. The concept for the park was developed by the great artist Ralph McQuarrie early in the days of Lucasfilm. It is a beautiful solemn depiction of what our world could become if we aren’t cautious
the take home
Art is never a waste if it makes us feel genuinely strong emotions and question who we are and where we are allowing ourselves to be taken. Do we want our planet to be a place where nature is relegated to arboretums? Gene Rodenberry often used his platform as a sci-fi writer to pass along a social statement or issue a subtle warning for the future. Littman is doing the same by planting a forest in a stadium.
