Site-specific intervention, Wünsdorf, since 2003
750 Pines in Military Formation

“The forest forgets the parade ground. Nature does not obey.” — Ulrike Mohr
In 2003, Ulrike Mohr realized a large-scale land art intervention on the grounds of a former Soviet military base in Wünsdorf, Brandenburg. The area, once used as a parade ground (Appellplatz), had been left to nature, where approximately 750 pine trees had begun to grow wild — scattered chaotically across the surface. Rather than planting new trees, Mohr carefully transplanted the existing wild pine saplings, rearranging them into a precise military formation, echoing the order and discipline once performed on the same site. From above, the pines appear like miniature soldiers, standing in battalion rows. Over time, as the trees grow and fill the space, the sharp formation will gradually dissolve into a forest — replacing martial order with organic disorder. The work draws attention to the transformation of spaces of power and control into living environments. Nature becomes both medium and message — a quiet, ongoing resistance to historical violence.