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Clemens Finkelstein, Claudia Hartl, Mathias Kessler

Planetary Forest

A Participatory Art-Science Project on Forest Dieback

The changes in our forests—whether tropical or European, untouched natural areas or cultivated economic zones—are the most gloomy signs of advancing climate change. Forests have been dying right outside our doors for quite some time, as can be seen all over Germany, including in the city forest of Rosbach vor der Höhe, part of the High Taunus Nature Park near Frankfurt/Main. During an art intervention in June 2022, forest material was taken from there and transplanted as “Planetary Forest” into the Giessen Botanical Garden. The project emerged from the international fellowship program of the Panel on Planetary Thinking and explores how art and science may join forces to address our time-critical challenges.

Constructed and grown out of dead plant matter, leaves, seeds, and soil, the sculpture illustrates how life may reemerge without human involvement. The book Planetary Forest documents the research process and the project’s evolution while introducing the art-science collective's sociocultural and ecopolitical objectives. With contributions by the project participants Liza B. Bauer, Clemens Finkelstein, Frederic Hanusch, Claudia Hartl, Chiara Juriatti, Mathias Kessler, Holger Laake, Claus Leggewie, and Volker Wisseman.