Ultra
2012
Performance on burned wood, video documentation
Huffington Post article “Hannes Bend Links Ultra Treehugger And 3,500-Year-Old Tree In ‘Essence’”
Miami New Times article: “In the grander scheme of things, German artist Hannes Bend turned the ridiculous tragedy into his masterful installation “Essence,” where he uses a piece of the tree in his work to reference the recent video gone viral “tree-hugger” from last Ultra Music Festival.”
In January 2012, the oldest pond cypress and the fifth oldest tree in the world, the 3,500-year-old ‘Senator’ tree, located in Big Tree Park, Florida, was destroyed by a fire carelessly caused by a drug addict. At the Ultra Music Festival in Miami in 2012 a woman was given the pseudonym the ‘Treehugger’ after multiple videos showed her hallucinogenic induced interaction with a tree on the festival area went viral online.
essence
2012
Video
Ultra is a staged and exaggerated reenactment of ‘The Treehugger’ from the ‘Ultra Music Festival’ performed by a female and male performer on remains of the ‘Senator’ tree. While Ultra was part of an exhibition at Legal Art Miami in 2012 the videos essence, 2012 and synchronicity, 2012 were displayed in the background. Essence, 2012 shows party-goers self- documenting their excessive behavior on iPads in a climate-controlled club environment.
synchronicity
2012
Video