Back to Home Page
Artists Community Send us Info
Membership Frequently Asked Questions About Us Search
Birgit Kratzheller, \
Birgit Kratzheller, "The Wind Cradle (Die Windwiege)", detail view, Holster Berg Mountains, Nordrhein-Westfalen / Germany, 2000

Birgit Kratzheller, \   Birgit Kratzheller, "The Wind Cradle (Die Windwiege)", Holster Berg Mountains, Nordrhein-Westfalen / Germany, 2000
Birgit Kratzheller, \   Birgit Kratzheller, "The Wind Cradle (Die Windwiege)", view from above, Holster Berg Mountains, Nordrhein-Westfalen / Germany, 2000
Birgit Kratzheller, \   Birgit Kratzheller, "The Wind Cradle (Die Windwiege)", panoramic view of project, Holster Berg Mountains, Nordrhein-Westfalen / Germany, 2000
Birgit Kratzheller

Die Windwiege/ The Wind-cradle

wood and rope

The Windwiege is located in a beech-tree-forest on a small hillside within a mountain chain in the middle of Germany (close to the town of Nieheim, Landkreis Höxter, Nordrhein-Westfalen).

When I was asked to create a work for this forest I started my research with several long walks. One part of the forest attracted my special attention: an area with very old beeches. There is a special name for these trees in German, we call it "Hallenwald", tall, elegant trunks which shoot up to an enormous height - like columns, carrying the dense, green ceiling of the forest. The sound of the wind in the crowns fascinated me. Combined with the view of the smooth, calming trunks had a very special effect on me.

These trees are located in a small rise on the mountain ridge were beech-trees form a circle for, leaving a beautiful glade. Being exposed like this, they are the first trees to be moved by the wind.

The Windwiege is floating between earth and the tops of the trees. It's a place to listen to the rustle of the leaves and to follow the sway of the crowns. It's made of wood and rope. Every single piece of wood is threaded through the ropes like the pearls of an Egyptian pectoral. The wooden form spreads five to six meters. The Windwiege resembles a nest, a net, a funnel, a bowl and a shell, being a bit of each but none of them in particular. It is suspended one meter above the ground. There is a round hole in the bottom of the bowl. Underneath it there is a platform of stone. When you stand inside the wooden form, which surrounds you, your concentration is drawn upwards to the movement of the leaves above your head. At the same time it not only focuses your view but it also concentrates the sounds coming from above.

If you crawl inside the "bowl" you can lie on your back, looking into the canopy, you can follow the sway of the trunks and branches not only with your eyes but with your whole body. The carrying ropes are attached high above on the upper parts of the trunks; they act like sensors for the movement of the trees and transfer the sway of the crowns on to the floating cradle.

© 2008 greenmuseum.org