“A relic of masculinity”: The pile of wood as a cultural monument – Bavaria

There are things that have to be done, like that with Wilhelm Koch’s book about piles of wood. “Time has run out,” says the Amberg publisher on the phone, so he made a remarkable little illustrated book out of the photos that his son Philipp took some time ago for his graphics studies. “Holzstoeger der Oberpfalz” is its name, quite simply, and you can see: wood piles.

Stacks taller than a man, meters long like a wall. Small bundles of twined branches and neatly stacked supplies. No pile of wood is the same as the other, some are stacked precisely under the barn roof, the others are wedged between two trees or stand in the middle of the meadow. Round branches are stacked and split logs, some chopped small, are ready for the fireplace.

“It’s nothing special,” says editor Koch, “they’re just standing there.” And then again not. Such a pile of wood arouses desires, says Koch, just think of all the heating debates. It is not without reason that the wood is now being stolen. A lot of work goes into such a stack and it is “a relic of masculinity,” says Koch. All sorts of interpretations for a supposedly simple pile of wood.

The authors that Koch gathered in the book for the pictures also tried their hand at these: artists, journalists, authors, all of them either from the Upper Palatinate or with friendly ties to this area. Gerd Burger, for example, attaches importance to the piles of wood that goes beyond the calorific value and the heat that comes out of the oven. “No, it’s about something bigger – the lumberyards and piles of wood and logs are pointers that remind us of the always open questions of where from and where to go: What was important to the ancients, what is important to us, how may things continue after us?”

Open detailed view

Open detailed view

Anyone who has not guessed the philosophical depth with which a few pieces of wood can be viewed will be surprised, but there are also very practical questions. Because there is no pile of wood without a cover, if the wood is lying there it cannot dry. However, as artistic and close to nature as some piles of wood may appear, the cover often comes across as brutally practical.

Uli Piehler, journalist and folk musician, describes making wood as archaic work, as an occupation “that leads him directly to the origin of his being”. With a big but: “But making wood also exposes the depravity of an affluent society. Where there’s a pile of wood, there’s also rubbish.” Quite a few piles of wood are equipped with the “most insane hangings”, with fluttering plastic webs, rusty metal sheets and all kinds of waste from the plastics industry. And sometimes, when it gets really tough, there are even old tires on the whole pile to weigh down.

The ten authors – all men, there seems to be something to the “relic of masculinity” when it comes to making wood – have delved into the topic, one writes poetry, the other quotes historical sources, the next comes as far as Woodstock in thought .

As surprising as an illustrated book about piles of wood may seem at first, it is not so surprising when looking at Koch’s complete works. One can possibly call him a universal artist, perhaps not in the very classical sense. Wilhelm Koch invented the Amberg Air Museum and attracted attention with a 3D printed equestrian statue of Angela Merkel. He built the asphalt chapel near his hometown of Etsdorf in the Upper Palatinate and is planning a Glyptothek there. And then the artist and visionary, who some might consider crazy, is also a publisher.

The Wilhelm Verlag office, which has won several awards, publishes special books, for example about culture and architecture, but there is also one about “Catholic Trees in the Upper Palatinate” or one about the “Barns in the Upper Palatinate”. And what comes next? One thing, says Wilhelm Koch, one thing might come to mind: a book about hunter seats.

Philipp Koch: piles of wood in the Upper Palatinate. Office Wilhelm Verlag Amberg. 180 pages, 39 euros.