The Berlin action artist Ben Wagin is dead. The 91-year-old initiator of the “Parliament of Trees” fell asleep “quietly and peacefully” on Wednesday in the Virchow Clinic in Berlin, the tree sponsoring association announced on Thursday.
The artist had worked closely with the association for many years, including on his numerous tree-planting campaigns and art projects.
Born in 1930 in the small Polish town of Jastrow, Ben Wagin has lived in Berlin since 1957.
Since the mid-1960s he had planted thousands of apple and ginkgo trees in many European countries.
The plantings were almost always a mixture of art action and political performance.
He was best known for the "Parliament of Trees" memorial site in Berlin's government district.
Ben Wagin died “as he lived: lively, brave, cheerful”, explained the tree sponsorship association: “In the next few days, others will certainly appreciate Ben's work, his diverse work in Berlin as an artist, gallery owner, activist, tree sponsor in long obituaries .
Today we still lack the words. "