Kunst aan de Maas | Art on the Meuse: Mark Dion - Tree of Life (Herbricht, BE)

American artist Mark Dion breathes new life into a symbolic place: Herbricht. His tree of life is like a journey through the past, present and future of the Meuse Valley. The power of nature is at the heart of his artwork.
The circle of life
On this hill on the banks of the Meuse stands a six-metre-tall tree of life. Once there was a sea here, then an ice field, and now the Meuse, a rain-fed river. Over time, plants, animals and insects disappeared and new species took their place. Within the tree you see sixteen sculptures, all related to the ecology, mythology and history of this place. Each of them tells a specific story. The Mosasaurus takes you back 75 million years, to the time of the dinosaurs. The woolly mammoth takes you back to 10,000 B.C. The Meuse Valley is now home to animals and insects such as the earthworm, the beaver, the green frog, the blue heron and the stag beetle. The buck with the silver chalice refers to the eighteenth-century legend of the Buckriders, a local gang of robbers.
Refuge
Herbricht has a special atmosphere. The hamlet lies in the river’s winter bed, where the Meuse can occupy all the space it needs. During high tide, Konik horses and Galloway cattle seek refuge on this slight hill on the bank. Nature takes over, while time extinguishes the village. The last
residents move away and no new ones arrive. All the more symbolic is this place for the tree of life. Where man moves away, nature and art take over.
Credits:
With 'Art on the Meuse', Z33 and RLKM are bringing art to the Limburg Meuse Valley. Between 2022 and 2024, five artworks will appear in Dilsen-Stokkem, Kinrooi, Lanaken, Maaseik and Maasmechelen.