While football stadiums have long been known for noise, commotion and of course, the fame, an art installation in Austria has turned the entire concept of the excitement associated with stadiums on its head in a bid to draw attention to climate change and deforestation.
According to a report published in CNN, Swiss artist Klaus Littmann has transformed the Wörthersee Football Stadium in Klagenfurt into a magnificent forest for a new project.
The huge pitch, located near Lake Wörthersee in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia, is now lined with around 300 trees, some weighing up to six tons each.
The installation, named 'For Forest — The Unending Attraction of Nature', which was launched on September 8, was inspired by a dystopian drawing by Austrian artist and architect Max Peintner more than 30 years ago.
The transplanted flora is made up of a diverse range of trees including the lder, aspen, white willow, hornbeam, field maple and common oak. The flora offers an imposing sight alongside the stadium's spectator concrete seats. According to Littman, the aim of the installation is to challenge "ur perception of nature and question its future". According to the artist it also symbolises the notion that nature may someday only be found in designated space.
The forest, which is being overseen by Enea Landscape Architecture, will be open for visitors every day until late October and will be replanted in a public site close to the stadium as a "living forest sculpture" when it closes.
Keywords: football, football stadium, forest, Lake Wörthersee, Wörthersee Football Stadium
