7000 Oaks

7000 Oaks

German: 7000 Eichen
Artist	Joseph Beuys
Year	1982 (1982)
Type	Land art
Location	Kassel, Hesse, Germany

7000 Oaks - City Forestation instead of City Administration (German: 7000 Eichen - Stadtverwaldung statt Stadtverwaltung) is a work of land art by the German artist Joseph Beuys. It was first publicly presented in 1982 at the documenta 7. With the help of volunteers Beuys planted 7000 oak trees over several years in the city of Kassel, each with an accompanying basalt stone.

In regard to the extensive urbanization of the setting the work was an extensive artistic and ecological intervention with the goal of enduringly altering the living space of the city. The project, though at first controversial, has become an important part of the cityscape of Kassel.

After five years the project ended in 1987 on the occasion of documenta 8. It is still alive.

See also

• Living sculpture
• Social sculpture

Bibliography

• Joseph Beuys, Bernhard Blum, Rainer Rappmann: Gespräche über Bäume. FIU-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-928780-11-7

External links

• Details and more images of the project