Hude

For Lemgo’s participation in the project Stad(t)t-Art, a 220-year-old, 35-meter-tall and no longer healthy oak tree was felled. Klaus Simon witnessed the event and used the wood to create a group of sculptures with a strong connection to the history of their location:
“The woods had been shrunk down to a minimum 200 years ago and could hardly be called forests any longer. Out of necessity, the first forest regulations were born. The most important Hude regulation was the Hütegesetz / preservation law (…). Hude regulation from 12/12/1860: Each citizen is permitted to collect two cows, a steer, a calf, two goats, two sheep, and two pigs in the Hude territory. (…) The forest regulations stipulated that three oaks were planted per citizen, as is what happened here 200 years ago (…). So, this tree, which was used to create the artwork, is a true witness of the times and should be viewed with respect.”
(Original German text: Hans-Friedrich Meiercord in: Stad(t)t-Art. Kunst in homöopathischen Dosen, ed. by the Sekretariat für kulturelle Zusammenarbeit nichttheatertragender Städte und Gemeinden in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bielefeld 1997, vol. 1, pp. 86–87; vol. 2, pp. 62–63)
“The sculpture group Hude, made of materials found on site and constructed on site, emerged from a historic path of centuries-old oaks in order to leave it behind as a mythical gathering place of the present.
(From: Dorsten Diekmann, Reflexionen)