All Alone Among the Stars

'All alone among the stars' is an exchange project between two young oak trees of similar size and age, one from 13HA and one from Bialowieza National Park at the border with Belarus. Besides questioning the authenticity of the two forests it tried to illuminate the complex and impossible relationship between them. In contrast to the Netherlands where all nature is constructed, Bialowieza Primeval Park is a natural primeval forest, the largest in Europe.

Claimed to be without human intervention the forest is one of the remaining examples of original Lowland Forest which ones used to cover a big part of Europe. This forest is strictly protected since 1921 and attracts many scientific researchers and tourist. Multiple Sages and fascinating stories are constructed around it, inspiring many people.

The Bialowieza forest is one of the most intensively explored areas on Earth. History of natural research in the forest began at the end of the 18th Century. I noticed there are so many Dutch tourists visiting this forest, that explanatory signs are translated in Polish, English and Dutch.


Example of tourist sign written  in PL / UK / NL

The National Park is protected by fences and an impressive and symbolic entrance gate, which became a symbol of transition from the world of civilization to the untouched Natural world. Following the fence around the forest it becomes clear that it is not constructed all the way around the primeval forest and that the suspense created with the big official entrance gate disappears when you encounter the open crossovers to other logging forests.

Logging began with the Germans in World War I. After World War II, the forest was divided between Poland (40%) and the Soviet Union (now Belarus 60%).  In the Polish portion, a 4700-ha Bialowieza National Park has been strictly protected; commercial logging has taken place over the remainder.  The doubling of the area covered by the National Park in 1996 and the establishment of new nature reserves in 2003 made little difference.  As of 2001 stands 100 years of age or older covered only 20% of the managed forest.

In the Soviet era, extensive drainage works were constructed, but commercial logging did not take place.  When Belarus came into existence, it set aside a 15,700-ha national park and encouraged logging elsewhere in the forest. Now a sawmill complex has been built within the park, and commercial logging is proceeding even there.

On the Polish side conservationists want to expand the National Park around this pristine core, but these plans have put conservationists in conflict with the foresters and with local people, who fear that their forestry jobs and rights to collect firewood, fruit and fungi will be forbidden in the future.

Background information of 13HA:
2001 The farm stops functioning like a pig farm
2002 The Start of HOP design. HOP design works with Afzelia (tropical wood) to prepare his furniture. The origin of this wood in unknown, it is imported through Germany, and doesn’t have a FSC-registration number
2003 The first art-event takes place.
2005 There are 35.000 young trees mechanically planted on the field.
Coorporatie Bosgroep Zuid, Het Groenfonds, and the government have made this possible. These organisations are still involved in CO2 Compensation regulations
2025 The amount of the 35.000 young trees will be cut into half. The cut up wood will be used for the timber industry and will be used as wood burned for private heating.

    

Event The Forest as Witness, a discussion about the situation in Bialowieza, Dutch Forestry policies and the experience of nature in Art. Speakers: Rudy Luijters (Atelier Veldwerk), Onno de Bruijn (Bialowieza Forest), Marc de Wit (Bosgroep Zuid) and Marjolijn Dijkman. Moderated by Koen Kleijn.   
   


Sign mentioning the exchange of trees and the presence of primeval oak on the field of 13HA in Dutch / English / Polish
   


Two A5 postcards with the both trees in their new surrounding distributed for free at 13HA