Joseph Beuys: In Defense of Nature prominently highlights the artist’s “multiples.” Arranged thematically throughout the first-floor galleries, the multiples are editioned objects made to be sold or given away, more accessible than singular, large-scale pieces. Iconic works such as Sled (1969) and Felt Suit (1970) join lesser-known multiples such as Rhine Water Polluted (1981), a bottle of river water that exemplifies the artist’s approach to artmaking, using humble materials to draw attention to social conditions and environmental issues, such as the contamination of the Rhine River. This expansive array of historical works shows how Beuys transformed the medium of sculpture, with his political concerns at the forefront. 

The reforestation project is inspired by Beuys’s profoundly influential work 7000 Eichen (7000 Oaks). Beuys’s action—part performance, part installation—began in 1982 and involved planting 7,000 trees accompanied by stone markers throughout Kassel, Germany, as a means to collectively reckon with the traumas of World War II. 

Centering the unique cultural, historical, and environmental context of Los Angeles, Social Forest: Oaks of Tovaangar brings new meaning to this reforestation action four decades later, in a vastly different landscape that also demands reconciliation. The project addresses two central themes: first, ecology and environmental repair; and second, confronting historical trauma toward restoration. The title Social Forest expresses the connection between humans and the environment, while Oaks of Tovaangar names the land in the Tongva (Gabrielino) language. The project is part of an ongoing reckoning with the historic and current impacts of colonialism and white supremacy occurring in the United States. With this context at the forefront, Social Forest is shaped in partnership with leaders from the Tongva community, in recognition of the deep history of the Tongva people who have called this land home for thousands of years, and celebrating their thrivance—a term that indicates radical prosperity and resistance, beyond base survival. 

To execute the planting of 100 California native oak trees in Elysian Park’s Chávez Ridge area, The Broad has partnered with North East Trees, a community-based non-profit that engages in conservation projects throughout the city of Los Angeles. Similar to 7000 Oaks, which employed the use of basalt stones local to Germany to mark each planting, each of the new trees along Park Row Drive will grow next to an accompanying naturally shaped boulder made of sandstone local to Los Angeles. At Kuruvungna Village Springs, a sacred Tongva site where a natural spring emerges, five oak trees will be planted, accompanied by a stone mortar used for grinding acorns into flour, honoring the acorn as a traditional Tongva food source. These trees and stones support the Gabrielino Tongva Springs Foundation’s work to restore and steward this important site while nurturing Tongva culture and history. 

Public programs tied to this two-branched initiative will include programs onsite in Elysian Park and at The Broad.

The focus of The Broad’s educational programs for this project is a newly developed curriculum that incorporates Tongva knowledge and practices. The curriculum was developed in consultation with Martinez and Arvizu Jr. and presents unique learning opportunities for LAUSD, Charter, and Private schools.

Southern California's landmark arts event, PST ART, returns in September 2024, presenting more than 70 exhibitions from organizations across the region exploring the intersections of art and science, both past and present. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit pst.art.

Image credit: Joseph Beuys, Difesa della natura (Defense of Nature), 1984. Color offset on heavy paper. © 2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo by Joshua White/JWPictures.com