Why? Simply because forests needs our attention. United Nations has announced 2011 the International Year of Forests. We have to rethink ways of sustainable forest management, locally and globally. Artificial trees connect us with nature and at the same time awaken creative thinking. Make a Forest is a creative response to the need to preserve and protect forests and a very visible way to explain and support the United Nation’s cause. But Make a Forest is also a tribute to the diversity of our forests. It is a testimony on its everlasting source of inspiration, and its connection to a sustainable future.

Trees have been a source of inspiration for many artists over a long period. Designers and architects continuously paint, sculpt and photograph trees, making use of all kinds of materials and playing freely with the connotations trees have in certain cultures. All are insertions of creativity that have the potential to change the way we think about nature and our relationship to it. Make a Forest thrives contemporary artists, designers and the public from all over the world to create artificial trees that function as a manifest for maintaining the earth’s treasures.

We invite you to imagine an artificial forest as diverse as our natural forests and follow it growing on this website: leaf-by-leaf, tree-by-tree. Each tree-making activity "big or small" is announced, reported and made visible through this platform. This way a small local project will add up to a bigger global one and reach an ever-bigger audience. Please feel free to browse this website, add inspiration and check the calendar to attend one of the many activities.

Together we will make a forest that unites, stimulates and enforces the thinking on this important matter.

Open Invitation

This project is an open invitation to any cultural institute that wants to Make a Forest with us. Just send an e-mail to office@makeaforest.org.

makeaforest.org

Šume kao izvor inspiracije za umjetnost
Začetnice Anna van der Zwaag i Joanna van der Zanden obje dolaze iz svijeta umjetnosti te imaju iskustva u organizaciji većih kulturnih projekata. Godinu šuma vide kao razlog za povezivanje lokalnih kulturnih institucija i umjetnika s ovom društveno važnom temom međunarodnog karaktera. «Šume pridonose našoj kolektivnoj mašti. Međunarodna godina šuma slavi značaj šuma za ljude. Projektom Make a Forest želimo podići razinu svijesti o prirodnom, kulturnom i simboličkom značaju naših šuma, « kaže van der Zwaag entuzijastično. Van der Zanden dodaje, «stablo u Surinamu ili Boliviji ima drukčije značenje nego ono u Nizozemskoj ili u Engleskoj, ali su ipak svi ljudi diljem svijeta odgovorni za održivo upravljanje šumama. Upravo je ta razlika u značenju ono što Make a Forest želi istaknuti. Mi ne sadimo stabla, ali sijemo razumijevanje. U kratkom vremenu mnogo se organizacija pridružilo projektu i očekujemo da će taj broj brzo rasti.»

Program otvorenja i izložba prvog projekta stabla
Tijekom godine Make a Forest će koristiti početak nove sezone kao trenutak za objavu novih projekata diljem svijeta. Događaj koji će označiti početak projekta Make a Forest organiziran je početkom proljeća: 23. ožujka. Događaj će se odvijati u De Dependanceu u Rotterdamu, a temi će se pristupiti iz znanstvene, likovne, dizajnerske i arhitektonske perspektive. Također će se predstaviti prvi projekt stabla, rad dizajnera Christiena Meinderstma. 

makeaforest.org | facebook.com/makeaforest| twitter.com/makeaforest

To je dijelom i razlog zbog čega su šume ključni sektor u UNEP-ovom radu na zelenoj ekonomiji – izvješću koje će označavati prekretnicu a bit će pokrenuto na nadolazećem Upravnom vijeću / Globalnom ministarskom forumu za životne sredine – budući da radimo na jačanju sva tri stupa održivog razvoja na Putu za Rio + 20 koji će se održati u svibnju sljedeće godine.

Šume za mnoge ljude predstavljaju mnoge stvari, uključujući duhovne, estetske i kulturne dimenzije koje su, po mnogočemu, od neprocjenjive vrijednosti. Ali one su također temelj našeg gospodarstva čija je prava vrijednost prečesto bila nevidljiva u državnim izračunima dobiti i gubitka. 

Ovo neslaganje između stvarnosti i percepcije svom se snagom manifestiralo u radu The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity(TEEB) (Ekonomija ekosustava i biološke raznolikosti).

Rad procjenjuje da krčenja šuma i degradacije šuma globalnu ekonomiju koštaju između 2.5 i 4.5 trilijuna dolara godišnje, više od gubitaka nedavne i tekuće financijske krize.

Službene web stranice: 
un.org/iyof2011
Video pokretanja Međunarodne godine šuma: un.org/video

Logo Međunarodne godine šuma dizajniran je tako da prenosi ideju i temu slogana «Šume za ljude» koji slavi središnju ulogu ljudi u održivom upravljanju, zaštiti i održivom razvoju naših svjetskih šuma. Ikonografski elementi dizajna opisuju neke od višestrukih vrijednosti šuma i potrebe za perspektivom od 360 stupnjeva: šume pružaju utočište za ljude i staništa za biološku raznolikost; one su izvori hrane, lijekova i čiste vode; i imaju važnu ulogu u održavanju stabilne globalne klime i okoliša. Zajedno, svi ovi elementi pojačavaju poruku da su šume važne za opstanak i dobrobit svih ljudi, svih nas 7 milijardi.

Industrijalizacija poljoprivrede je s odnosa čovjeka i bilja zderala ionako tanani dirljivi sentimentalni veo i svela ga na čisto novčani odnos. Tek je ona pokazala šta je ljudska djelatnost u stanju napraviti. Neprekidni prevrati u proizvodnji, neprekidno potresanje svih klimatskih uvjeta, vječna nesigurnost i kretanje izdvajaju našu epohu od svih drugih.
Naša civilizacija je zemlju potčinila asfaltu. Ona je stvorila ogromne gradove, ona je silno uvećala broj gradskog stanovištva i tako znatan dio zemlje otela od biljne vrste. Kao što je selo učinila zavisnim od grada, tako je i drveće, grmlja, cvijeće, travu i drugo bilje učinila zavisnim od puteva i kuća. Ona je nagomilala stanovništvo i zaboravila na zelene oaze. Nužna posljedica toga je nesretno bilje i loš zrak. Pred našim očima vrši se slično kretanje i samo ga osviješteni pojedinci mogu zaustaviti. Oni se regrutiraju iz svih klasa stanovništva i okupljaju oko istog cilja – SRETNOG I ZADOVOLJNOG BILJA. Njihova borba počinje empatijom za bilje.
U početku se bore pojedini krajobrasci, zatim građani jednog kvarta, onda građani jednog grada, pa županije, pa države, pa svi. Oni svoje napade ne upravljaju samo protiv asfalta, parkirališta i stambenih ili poslovnih objekata bez dovoljno zelenih površina i sluha za bilje, oni ih upravljaju i na omogućavanje uvjeta za rast sretnog i zadovoljnog bilja gdje je god to moguće.
Na prvom stupnju Krajobrasci revolucionari sačinjavaju masu rasturenu po cijeloj zemlji koja sadi, zalijeva, čisti i druži se s biljem. Vremenom oni će se
zbijati u veće mase, njihova će snaga rasti i oni će je sve više osjećati, a bilje će biti sve sretnije i zadovoljnije.

POSTULATI MANIFESTA

U kakvom odnosu stoje Krajobrazac i bilje uopće?

On nema nikakve interese odvojene od interesa cjelokupne prirode.
On ne postavlja nikakve posebne principe u koje bi htio ukalupiti bilje.
Najbliži cilj Krajobrazaca je isti kao i svih ostalih finih ljudi: formiranje svijesti o potrebi stvaranja uvjeta za život sretnog i zadovoljnog bilja.

Teorijske postavke Krajobrazaca nipošto ne počivaju na idejama, na načelima koje je izmislio ili otkrio ovaj ili onaj popravljač svijeta.

Ono što čini odliku Krajobrazaca nije ukidanje asfalta uopće, već ukidanje njegove prevlasti.
Oni samo žele ukinuti bijedni karakter prisvajanja, u kojem čovjek voli i poštuje samo ono bilje koje može pojesti ili koje mu se sviđa i koje mu ne smeta i o kojem brine samo ako je u njegovom vlasništvu.

Na mjesto starog za bilje nezainteresiranog društva stupa empatično društvo kojemu je sreća i zadovoljstvo bilja uvjet za opće veselje. 

*** (in english) ***

MANIFESTO ON HAPPY AND CONTENTED PLANTS

The history of every society has, among other things, also been the history of man’s relationship towards plants. Man and plant have often stood in opposition to each other, they led a continuous, sometimes hidden sometimes open fight, a fight that occasionally, and unfortunately, ends in the destruction of some plant species. 

Modern society never bridged the misunderstanding. It just created new uncertainties, new conditions of cultivation, new forms of struggle in the place of the old ones. But our epoch is different in sense that it exposed oppositions. The whole society is increasingly becoming divided in two big distinct camps, in two big classes that stand in opposition to each other – the one that respects plants as living creatures (Environmental Revolutionaries) and the one that does not respect them (regular Environmentalists and all others). 

The industrialization of agriculture stripped off the thin, touchy, sentimental veil from the man’s relationship towards plants and reduced it to a pure monetary relation. It demonstrated what is human activity capable of. Constant turmoil in production, continuous disturbances of all climatic conditions, everlasting uncertainty and activity distinguish our era from all the others. Our civilization subdued soil to asphalt. It created huge cities, it greatly increased the number of city population and so took the significant part of the land away from plant species. The same as it made villages dependent on cities, so it made the trees, shrubs, flowers, grass and other plants dependent on roads and houses. It has amassed people and forgot about green oasis. 

The necessary consequences of that approach are unhappy plants and bad air. Similar conditions are happening in front of our eyes, and only conscious individuals can stop it. They come from all the classes and are gathered around the same goal – HAPPY AND CONTENTED PLANTS. Their fight begins with empathy for plants. Initially, individual environmentalists are fighting, then come the citizens of one city, then counties, then countries, then everyone. They do not aim their attacks only at asphalt, parking lots and residential and office buildings without enough green areas and sense for plants, they aim them also at enabling the conditions for the cultivation of happy and contented plants wherever that is possible. 

The first stage consists of Environmentalists Revolutionaries scattered all around the earth who plant, water, clean and socialize with plants. In time, they will gather into larger groups, become stronger and increasingly become aware of their power and plants will be ever happy and contented.


POSTULATES OF THE MANIFESTO

What is exactly the relation between an Environmentalist and plants?

He/she does not have any interests separate from the interest of nature in general. He/she does not set any special principles in which plants have to be incorporated.The closest goal of an Environmentalist is the same as with all other nice people: to raise the awareness about the need to create conditions for the life of happy and contented plants. 

Theoretical preferences of an Environmentalist are not based on ideas, on principles invented or discovered by this or that ‘restorer’ of the world. 

What characterizes an Environmentalist is not at all the elimination of asphalt, it is the elimination of its dominance. They just want to eliminate the pitiful character of appropriation in which man only respects and loves those plants that can be eaten or the ones he/she likes, the ones that do not bother him/her, and he/she takes care of them only if he/she owns them. 

In the place of old society, uninterested in plants, comes an empathic society that sees the happiness and content of plants as a prerequisite for general happiness.ž

slika/photo: Man met boompje, Stang Gubbels

After we managed to finally get the crane started we tried to lift the bags by using a textile band, tying it around the bags and lifting it off slowly. Then we tried a faster option by using a wooden pallet as the base. After some 1 and a half hour we got all the humus and stones on the top of the terrace. The crane is a heavy-duty machine, capable to lift around 120 kg without hesitating, well, that was our calculation when loading the pallet with a maximum of three bags and watching doubtingly. But finally it made it.


Another activity we continued on friday was the taring of the rest of the containers and then on Saturday morning we visited ZMAG place in Vukomeric. We got there a little bit of soil from a close natural area like some bags filled with forest leaves and detritus (microorganisms for our substrate), we also took some clayish soil for the substrate mix and a pack of straw bale as the top layer of our containers after we fill them with the substrate mix. 

We will come back tomorrow the get the containers ready for the planting phase. Very looking forward for the next phase!

Creativity is important when you are short in resources, and it also help you create better ways of doing things and think about different decisions that you otherwise wouldn’t explore. Finally we covered the containers with the heavy duty plastic and started unloading the river pebbles on it. The boxes are finally taking the form we imagined, but this time the real life version looks better and for real! So excited about the project and the quick results the collective has achieved. 
Before we finish this post we will share with you a nice article about the project and the cooperation with Lush Croatia in the croatian website h-alter, just click here to know more about how to get a natural fresh face mask in exchange for seedlings for our project!
Tomorrow we will finish the containers, fill them with the special substrate mix and hopefully start planting the seedlings soon.

During this week we also got the seedlings, this time we selected different providers. There were producers from Zagrebačka županija in front of the central train station selling different kind of plants. We bought celery, coriander, cucumber, kohlrabi (or german turnip), tomato, paprika, dill and cabbage. Another supplier was Rustica, the association for preservation and development of biological diversity and natural heritage, they provided us with some herbs like parsley, basil, lavanda, among others, some great local varieties of lettuce, some strawberries, garlic and onion. They will also give the first workshop in our urban garden at May 8th at 18:00 pm so feel free to attend.

Partners in garden:
Blok http://www.urbanfestival.hr/2010/hr/blok/ 
Urban Festival http://www.urbanfestival.hr/

Daniel Rodik

Dražena Pavlović Lučić
Ivan Gregov

Naturalistas

Student Centre Zagreb-Culture of Change

Vladimir Tatomir

Although this way of working is useful, it might not be the most efficient way of proceeding. Still, everyday we are learning and proposing better and more efficient ways of working. One of the outcomes we had today in a small refection meeting after the workshop was that we will propose more specific tasks and maybe schedule our presence on the terrace. Another good idea is to have all the working tools guarded in the entrance where the security guards are, instead of carrying them every time and to avoid temptations if leaving them inside the tool box on the terrace. More outcomes and reflections from this meeting will be explained in a following post.

While working today before the meeting we had a visit from the media, one of the national TV channels came to make a small report about the project. Since the project has gained momentum in some media channels due to the efforts of the girls from Blok and Silvija from SC, it seems the mass media has caught up. Marijana and Hermes were filmed, they explained the project, commented on the phase we are in, some details about the design and the plants, and the future of the Urban Garden. We’ll post the link or the video itself in the future if the channel puts it on the web.

After having some late lunch, first participant of the workshop took us by surprise some half an hour before the beginning. Little by little people started to arrive and we got ready for our first public activity. We were very happy to see around 60 participants! They were very active asking questions and participating in planting of aromatic herbs.

Urbani povrtnjak dugoročni je suradnički projekt čija se prva faza odvija u okviru UrbanFestivala 11 kroz period od svibnja do listopada 2010. Projekt se bavi uspostavljanjem urbanog povrtnjaka na krovnoj terasi Studentskog centra u Zagrebu, a dugoročno istraživanjima mogućnosti, uvjeta i okolnostima uzgoja povrtnjaka u urbanim sredinama. 

U svibnju, lipnju i rujnu odvijat će se niz vrtlarskih radionica vezanih za različite segmente održavanja vrta: sadnju, kompostiranje i navodnjavanje, kao i za ubiranje njegovih plodova: korištenje začinskog bilja i zdravo konzerviranje povrća.

Vrt grade i o njemu se brinu: BLOK, Ivan Gregov, Kultura promjene SC-a, Naturalistas, Dražena Pavlović-Lučić, Daniel Rodik, Vladimir Tatomir.

Prvo predavanje i radionicu biološkog vrtlarenja vodit će Božica Papeš-Mokos koja već dugo godina radi na zaštiti prirode i okoliša. Bila je aktivna u Austrijskom institutu za ekopedagogiju, bavi se uzgojem starih sorti i očuvanjem tradicijske arhitekture. Aktivna je u radu udruga Rustica i Zelena Mreža Aaktivističkih Grupa koje upravo pripremaju DANE (I NOĆI) SJEMENA.

Zahvaljujemo Goethe Institutu u Zagrebu na čijem je Forum for Creative Minds: Cities and Climate Change i nastala ideja vrta!
Projekt se odvija u sklopu globalnog suradničkog projekta Make a Forestkoji za cilj ima podizanje svijesti o očuvanju i održivom razvoju šuma,makeaforest.org.

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UrbanFestival 11 fokusira se na (polu) javne prostore na margini javnog interesa, kao i na problematiziranje rasta grada u visinu kao procesa koji može, i trebao bi, generirati nove javne prostore, ali je redovito oruđe korporacijskog i privatnog kapitala za zaposjedanje grada, generirajući ekskluzivne prostore namijenjene komercijalnim ili marketinškim sadržajima, a zatvorene za širu javnost. Tijekom svibnja i lipnja umjetnici i aktivisti će realizirati pojedine projekte, dok će festivalski program u listopadu kroz niz diskurzivnih, prezentacijskih i izvedbenih jedinica otvoriti u javnosti diskusiju o specifičnim aspektima teme kao i o produciranim radovima.

Transplanting time

We later discovered that the containers looked a bit empty, because in the beginning we tried to respect the size of the plants when mature; however we decided to add more plants and decrease the space among them. Anyway, we have to be aware that a garden is a living thing and at the end of the day the idea of our urban garden is also to learn by doing and experience the excitement of growing those great vegetable beings that feed us.

This past weekend there was a small storm in Zagreb, but the plants could stand the strong wind and resist the weather, even though some mulch (straw) was swept away from the beds but fortunately we still have enough to cover them again. This week the rest of the team build two more containers so we will have enough space for tomorrow’s workshop! Some extra seedlings were transplanted and potatoes from Lika also joined the vegetables gang!

There is still some work to do for example the extra herbs we need to transplant. There are some small containers for that, and we are going to use them on the fences of the terrace and still some old tyres are waiting to be converted into pots.