West 22nd Street, 2009

A stroll along the gallery-stocked West 22nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues includes an encounter with a rhythmic row of trees planted beside rough-hewn stone plinths.

The twenty-three trees and basalt stone columns were erected as part of a Joseph Beuys art installation, backed by the Dia Art Foundation. The project was begun in 1988 when West Chelsea was a deserted industrial zone. Dia was located on the block.

The installation continued what Beuys had begun at the 1982 Documenta in Kassel, Germany. Titled 7000 Oaks, the installation involved planting 7000 trees alongside four-foot-high basalt stones throughout Kassel.

Beuys planting a tree, Documenta 1982

Beuys described his vision as one “to raise ecological consciousness” and as a “symbolic beginning.” He noted that as the trees grew, the stones’ size would remain static, creating ever-changing proportions.

In 1988 Dia planted five trees and columns at 548 West 22nd Street. In 1996 Dia planted an additional 18 trees and columns.

West 22nd Street, 1996, via Dia