This Planted Place is a three-channel, 25 minute video installation. It examines the ecological complexities and human and more-than-human relationships in the Heidewald — a small woodland in Maxdorf, Germany. Slow moving, idyllic shots of trees, insects, and other species are continually disrupted by the human world: chainsaws, airplanes, sirens and a human voice amplified by megaphone. At one point we hear this voice ask, “what is this place?”. The Heidewald is a planted place—a wholly unique landscape, but also a place where questions of global significance can be asked.

With the support of fifty residents and local experts (ecologists, foresters, historians, landscape planners, educators and more), we were able to collect facts, anecdotes, and local lore that have influenced the video. Local residents collaborated in the process of creating this work by performing in the video, submitting haiku about the Heidewald, and through numerous conversations and walks in the woods.

Watch an excerpt below.

Read Lea Gerschwitz’s essay on THIS PLANTED PLACE here.