15-03-2021: Oak planting in honour of Joseph Beuys in Altenmarkt a.d. Alz

Together with various institutions in the town, planting in the sense of "social sculpture" has been taking place in Traunreut since 2015. And Traunreut's example is setting a precedent: in the anniversary year of Joseph Beuys' 100th birthday, the planting is being extended into the region under the patronage of District Administrator Siegfried Walch, and together with the "STADTKULTUR Netzwerk Bayerischer Städte e.V." also planted throughout Bavaria. Altenmarkt, Heiner Friedrich's home town, is the first of these!

Already at a meeting with museum benefactor Heiner Friedrich at the museum DASMAXIMUM 2018, mayor Stephan Bierschneider had expressed the wish to enable an oak planting in Altenmarkt as well. He chose a particularly prominent location for it, right next to the town hall. Due to the pandemic, the planting took place in the closest circle of officials together with representatives of DASMAXIMUM. A greeting was given by the deputy chairman of the board of trustees of the DASMAXIMUM foundation, Michael Reich.

Heiner Friedrich himself arrived in Altenmarkt from Berlin in February 1945 with his siblings Holger and Heike and their parents Harald and Erika Friedrich. Harald Friedrich is a co-founder of ALZMETALL. Heiner Friedrich experienced the last months of the war there and grew up in Kirchberg. Today he lives in New York. The basalt stone for the planting is his personal contribution and greeting: "Creation is a great gift," says Friedrich, "and the oak is a gift of creation." His love of nature was the basis of his admiration of art and his entry into the art world as a - now legendary - patron of the arts.