Art flight project for New York with the text banner PLANT FLOWERS AND TREES. Homage to Joseph Beuys. Scheduled date: April 22, 2025, the International Earth Day
On the left: montage by MK (based on photo by Sergii Figurnyi), on the right: photo of the banner flight in Kassel on Sept. 21, 2022 during the last week of the documenta 15 (see menu SKY PIECES 2022)
Project description: A text banner towed by a small airplane floats over the Hudson River along the island of Manhattan, circling the Statue of Liberty and the islands in New York Harbor. White capital letters convey the message PLANT FLOWERS AND TREES. The wording extends the basic idea of the epochal artwork »7000 Oaks« by German artist Joseph Beuys, who initiated the planting of trees, each accompanied by an upright basalt stone, as a contribution to »documenta 7« in Kassel in 1982. It also draws attention to the 38 trees that were planted in the spirit of Beuys on West 22nd Street in New York‘s Chelsea neighborhood.
On September 21, 2022, the UN International Day of Peace, which concurred with the last week of the »documenta fifteen«, a banner flight took place for the »7000 Oaks Foundation« in Kassel, the curator of Beuys’ pioneering artwork. Given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a few months earlier, flowers were added to the call to plant trees. The banner thus implies both the demand for ecological »social sculpture« and for peace through diplomacy. In view of the global increase in conflicts, the significance of the banner project for New York City, home of the United Nations, has only grown, sending a message of encouragement and hope.
View over the Hudson River towards Manhattan (Hudson Yards, Chelsea Gallery District, Hudson River Park)
• Banner composed of 20 white semi-transparent custom-made interlinked single letters (7' x 80')
• Altitude over the Hudson River and the New York Harbour as well as distance to the piers: 500 feet
• Climate-neutral through CO2 compensation
https://bit.ly/4b5qd88 photos art flight Kassel, montages for NYC, catalogue Michael Klant (Google Drive)