At the age of 91
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Berlin action artist Ben Wagin has died
In Berlin he was considered a legend: Ben Wagin. With his tree plantings in the city, as well as with his huge murals, he caused eye-catchers and political statements. Now the performance artist has died at the age of 91.
The Berlin artist Ben Wagin is dead. He died on Wednesday at the age of 91, as the “Tree Sponsors” association he once founded announced on Thursday.
Wagin has recently become increasingly weaker and his health has deteriorated dramatically in the past few days, the club said. After two short stays in hospital, he “fell asleep quietly and peacefully in the Virchow Clinic on Wednesday morning.”
Ben Wagin died “as he lived: lively, courageous, cheerful”, explained the tree sponsorship association: “Others will certainly pay tribute to Ben’s work in the next few days, his diverse work in Berlin as an artist, gallery owner, activist, tree sponsor in long obituaries . Today we still have no words for that. “
Müller: “We will miss Ben Wagin”
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) paid tribute to Wagin on Thursday. “With Ben Wagin, an artist of his very own kind is leaving us,” said Müller. “Berlin would look different without his life’s work and his sustained commitment to urban nature: without his tree planting, without his monuments, without his interventions.”
People like him were needed – “People who thought politics, nature and art together and who never got tired of interfering, taking a stand and sometimes being uncomfortable,” said Müller. As an action artist, environmental activist, theater maker and philanthropist, Wagin was a Berlin original in the best sense of the word. “We’ll miss Ben Wagin.”
The Berlin Senator for Culture Klaus Lederer (Linke) tweeted that Wagon’s work showed “a restless, creative spirit that never stopped getting involved. It will be missing.”
50,000 trees planted
Wagin, whose real name is Bernhard Wargin, was born in Jastrow, Poland, in 1930 and fled to Germany in 1945. Since 1957 he lived in Berlin. The action artist and sculptor Wagin is also known beyond Berlin’s borders for his tree planting.
Wagin initially trained as a carpenter, then worked as a set designer and was assistant to the sculptor Karl Hartung. In 1961 he took part in one of the first artistic protests against the wall, the sculpture symposium. A year later he founded the gallery S Ben Wargin, in which numerous solo and group exhibitions took place.
In 1967, Ben Wagon’s first tree planting took place at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Numerous other such actions followed in and around Berlin to this day. He is said to have planted an estimated 50,000 trees or made sure that they are planted; for him they are ambassadors of peace. Wagin received the Federal Cross of Merit and in the early 1990s created his “Parliament of Trees” in the government district, a memorial for those who died in the Wall.
A work of art is threatened
Wagin has also designed huge murals in the city with other artists. Trees are immortalized on the most famous ones. The “World Tree I”, which has filled an entire house wall at the Tiergarten train station since 1975, was the first major street art work in West Berlin. It can no longer be seen, three years ago a new building was erected in front of it.
According to “Tagesspiegel”, the responsible building management company, the company “Immofinanz”, had offered Ben Wagin that he could put the picture back on after the renovation work had been completed. Financially, however, no commitment of support could be made by the building administration.
“Wonderful role model” – Grütters pays tribute to Wagin
Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters (CDU) praised Ben Wagin as a “wonderful role model for the protection of nature and the environment”. “Many of his actions were not only a call for sustainable and considerate treatment of nature, but also appeals for peace and reconciliation,” said Grütters on Thursday in Berlin.
After the Peaceful Revolution and reunification, Wagin created the “Parliament of Trees”, a unique natural memorial for the victims of bondage, according to Grütters. In the former no man’s land and in the immediate vicinity of the Bundestag there is an oasis of his creative work, which especially sensitizes young people without any experience of dictatorship to the suffering caused by the division of Berlin and Germany.
Broadcast: Inforadio, July 29, 2021, 1:40 p.m.