concept
TreeEast
By wooden bicycle on a tree trail
Planting a chain of tree circles
Shahin Tivay Sadatolhosseini & Dr. Anke Scharrahs
We – a well-travelled artist and a wood restorer and conservator – will set off on a long-term journey in 2027/28 on wooden bicycles, during which we will plant trees along the way. This project, TreeEast, is an art project with many layers of meaning and an ecological dimension, during which an artistic documentary film will also be made.
We will travel south-eastwards from Germany through Europe, and along the Silk Roads in Asia.
Our aim is to plant as many groups of trees as possible along our route, with each group containing between 1 and 1001 trees.
The first stretch of the journey will take us from Aachen (Germany) to Varna (Bulgaria).
We are looking for people to donate the cost of tree seedlings for our project, and we are looking for individuals or organisations willing to allow the donated trees to be planted on their public or private land. We also intend to find tree guardians who will look after the saplings during their first few years of life, to support them through this initial phase.
Throughout our project, a growing network of tree donors, tree owners and tree guardians will emerge, all of whom will be visible and connected via our website.
The trees will be selected and planted to suit the specific soil conditions, climate zone and the expected changes in conditions over the coming decades.
Through this multifaceted project, we would like to draw further attention to the issues of climate change, ecology and sustainability, and build bridges between countries, people and cultures.
It is important to us not just to plant trees, but also to plant ideas and develop proactive networks that are both local and global.
We mark the route we have covered in street art style with stickers featuring our logo.
The entire travel and art project will be filmed using professional camera technology. The result will be an extraordinary road movie with special vehicles, protagonists and encounters.