CityLife

MIF: Gustav Metzger strips trees in artistic protest

Gustav Metzger's Flailing Trees

STRIPPING 21 willow trees of their branches and upturning them into a concrete base might seem a slightly odd undertaking for an artist as concerned with the environment as Gustav Metzger - but Citylife has it on good authority that he's making a statement.

Renowned artist and political activist Metzger has joined forces with the Manchester International Festival to create Flailing Trees, a sculpture to be situated in the Manchester Peace Garden.

As the trees dry out, the sculpture will transform - making Flailing Trees a perfect metaphor for what Metzger sees as the urgent need for debate about the increasing brutalization of the world.

Metzger said: "When we now reflect on nature, it is with considerable doubt and uncertainty.  A good deal of fear is involved.  We constantly ask: what will happen next?"

Born in Germany, Metzger became stateless in 1948.  His work and lectures are renowned for pushing boundaries of the avant-garde, and he is widely considered to have had one of the most uncompromising artistic careers of the century.

Flailing Trees will relate to the Manchester Report, commissioned especially for the Festival.  It plans to recommend and communicate a series of innovative solutions to combat the environmental crisis, prior to the UN Climate Change Conference scheduled to take place in November.

The sculpture will move to the Whitworth Gallery after the festival.