Ben Wagin (25 March 1930 – 28 July 2021) was a German artist, sculptor, draughtsman, designer, performance artist, author and composer. He ran the Galerie S gallery, and founded the artists' group ''die Baumpaten'' (Godfathers of trees) which planted trees in cities. He created the installation ''

The Parliament of Trees The Parliament of Trees (also known as ''The Parliament of Trees against war and violence'') is a memorial for the List of deaths at the Berlin Wall, death victims of the Berlin Wall, which was installed on 9 November 1990 by performance artis ...

'' in Berlin.

Life

Born Bernhard Wargin in Jastrow,

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, Wagin lived in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

from 1957 on. There he studied at the

Hochschule der Künste The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...

and while a student, he worked as an assistant for the sculptor and others. On 3 May 1962, he opened the "Galerie S", where he first presented work by Berlin artists. The gallery soon became known in Germany and abroad. In May 1966, Wagin began to publish a monthly newsletter ''Galerien + Museen in Berlin'' (Galleries + museums in Berlin). On 8 May 1968, he moved with the gallery to the

Europa-Center The Europa-Center is a building complex on Breitscheidplatz in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, with a List of shopping malls in Germany, shopping mall and a tower block, high-rise tower tall. Built between 1963 and 1965, by 2003 it had ...

. From 1970 he regularly showed art installations at

Art Basel Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel (Switzerland), Miami Beach (US), Hong Kong and Paris. Art Basel provides a platform for galleries to show and sell their work to buyers, an ...

. He founded the association Baumpatenverein (Godparents of trees) in Berlin, aiming at fostering the quality of urban life in that city. He exhibited at the Berlin-Pavillon in the 1970s, the orangery of

Charlottenburg Palace Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough, and is among the largest palaces in the world. The palace was built at the end of th ...

, and also at the Lindentunnel next to

Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...

from 1993 to 1996. He used a hall of the

TU Berlin Tu or TU may refer to: Language * Tu language * Tu (cuneiform), a cuneiform sign * ''tu'' or ''tú'' the 2nd-person singular subject pronoun in many languages; see personal pronoun * T–V distinction (from the Latin pronouns ''tu'' and ''vos'') ...

Ackerstraße Ackerstraße, or Ackerstrasse (see ß), is a street in Berlin which runs northwest from near the Liesenstraße – Scheringstraße traffic circle in Gesundbrunnen to Invalidenstraße, where it turns south, terminating at the Linienstraße i ...

as a studio and exhibition space from 1983. In many works, exhibitions and other performances, Wagin raised awareness of man-made changes to the natural environment. In 1975, he initiated one of the first murals in Berlin, at Siegmunds Hof, called ''Weltbaum I'' (''World Tree I''). It is to date one of the biggest of them. In 1985 he designed ''Weltbaum II'' with many other artists on the

firewall Firewall may refer to: * Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts * Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spre ...

at Berlin's Savignyplatz station. Wagin planted numerous trees in and around Berlin, often with politicians and persons engaged in the cultural sector. As of 2019, Wagin's trees still stand in front of federal ministries, theatres, museums, among others in front of

Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langh ...

, the Gedächtniskirche, and the

Neue Nationalgalerie The Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) at the Kulturforum is a museum for modern art in Berlin, with its main focus on the 20th century. It is part of the National Gallery of the Berlin State Museums. The museum building and its sculpt ...

. In 2005, Wagin started "Sonnenboten" (Messengers of the Sun) which has since created 4 million oases of

sunflowers ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising around 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to ...

together with schools and communities across Germany. Wagin was known as ''Baumpate'' (Godfather of Trees) nationwide and has been able to plant around 50,000

Ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants, assigned to the gymnosperms. The scientific name is also used as the English common name. The order to which the genus belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, , and ''Ginkgo'' is n ...

trees from Moscow to

Vilshofen Vilshofen an der Donau is the largest city in the southeast of Bavaria, Germany in the district of Passau. Until 1972, the town was the district seat of the district of Vilshofen. History Middle Ages The year 776 was the beginning of the doc ...

. Wagin created the installation ''

'' in the middle of Berlin's governmental quarter in the 1990s, as a monument for the victims at the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

. He fought for years for its preservation. Pieces of the Wall designed by Wagin were included in the library building of the German national parliament in and are known as ''Mauer-Mahnmal des Bundestages'' (Memorial of the Berlin Wall of the German Parliament). From 2015 on, he converted the historic land as well as some of the halls of the former , part of the

Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof The Anhalter Bahnhof is a former railway terminus in Berlin, Germany, approximately southeast of Potsdamer Platz. Once one of Berlin's most important railway stations, it was severely damaged in World War II, and finally closed for traffic in 1 ...

right next to the

German Museum of Technology (German Museum of Technology) in Berlin, Germany is a museum of science and technology, and exhibits a large collection of historical technical artifacts. The museum's main emphasis originally was on rail transport, but today it also features ...

, into a natural and cultural memorial site. Wagin was a member of

Deutscher Künstlerbund The Deutscher Kuenstlerbund (Association of German Artists) was founded in 1903 on the initiative of Count Harry Kessler, a promoter of arts and artists; Alfred Lichtwark, director of the Hamburg Art Gallery; and the famous painters Lovis Corin ...

, a German society of artists. Wagin died in Berlin on 28 July 2021 at age 91. Ben Wargin (1995).jpg, Ben Wagin in the Lindentunnel, 1995 II Projekt Ben Wagin am Gräbendorfer See.JPG, Project at Gräbendorfer See Berlin - S-Bahnhof Savignyplatz (9603391400).jpg, Savignyplatz station

Publications

* *

Awards

* 1985:

Bundesverdienstkreuz The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first President of the Federal Republic ...

* 1996: Victor-Wendland-Ehrenring * 2010: Verdienstorden des Landes Berlin

References

External links

Ben Wagins Sonnenboten

Ben Wagin's own website

Fotogalerie: Parlament der Bäume im Jahr 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagin, Ben 1930 births 2021 deaths Artists from Berlin People from Złotów County German sculptors Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin