{{Short description|German artist (1930–2021)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Ben Wagin | image = Ben Wagin 2, 1995 (300dpi).jpg | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Wagin in 1995 | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|03|25|df=yes}} | birth_place = Jastrow, Prussia, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|2021|07|28|1930|03|25|df=yes}} | death_place = Berlin, Germany | education = Hochschule der Künste | occupation = {{flatlist| * Artist * sculptor * draughtsman * action artist }} | organizations = {{plainlist| * Galerie S * Die Baumpaten }} | awards = {{plainlist| * Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany * Order of Merit of Berlin }} }} '''Ben Wagin''' (25 March 1930 – 28 July 2021) was a German artist, sculptor, draughtsman, designer, performance artist, author and composer. He ran the '''Galerie S''' gallery, and founded the artists' group '''''die Baumpaten''''' (Godfathers of trees) which planted trees in cities. He created the installation ''The Parliament of Trees'' in Berlin.
== Life == Born Bernhard Wargin in Jastrow, Prussia, Wagin lived in West Berlin from 1957 on.<ref name="Tagesspiegel 2021">{{cite web | title=Der größte und beste Baumpate, ein wunderbares Vorbild | website=Der Tagesspiegel | date=29 July 2021 | url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/zum-tod-des-kuenstlers-ben-wagin-der-groesste-und-beste-baumpate-ein-wunderbares-vorbild/27465362.html | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref> There he studied at the Hochschule der Künste and while a student, he worked as an assistant for the sculptor {{ill|Karl Hartung|de}} and others.<ref name="Barkey 2021">{{cite web | last=Barkey | first=Sophie | title=Berliner Aktionskünstler Ben Wagin gestorben | website=Berliner Zeitung | date=29 July 2021 | url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/news/berliner-aktionskuenstler-ben-wagin-gestorben-li.173901 | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="rbb24">{{cite web | title=Berliner Aktionskünstler Ben Wagin ist gestorben | website=rbb24 | url=https://www.rbb24.de/kultur/beitrag/2021/07/berlin-ben-wagin-gestorben-baumpate-aktionskuenstler.html | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021 | archive-date=29 July 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729115142/https://www.rbb24.de/kultur/beitrag/2021/07/berlin-ben-wagin-gestorben-baumpate-aktionskuenstler.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>
On 3 May 1962, he opened the "Galerie S",<ref name="Schwab 2010">{{cite news | last=Schwab | first=Waltraud | title=Ginkgo und Gegenwart | newspaper=Die Tageszeitung: Taz | date=20 March 2010 | page=21 | url=https://taz.de/!463879/ | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref> where he first presented work by Berlin artists. The gallery soon became known in Germany and abroad. In May 1966, Wagin began to publish a monthly newsletter ''Galerien + Museen in Berlin'' (Galleries + museums in Berlin). On 8 May 1968, he moved with the gallery to the Europa-Center.<ref name="Bernau 2020">{{cite web | last=Bernau | first=Nikolaus | title=Ben Wagin: Der Künstler, der Politiker dazu bringt, Bäume stehen zu lassen | website=Berliner Zeitung | date=25 March 2020 | url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/kultur-vergnuegen/ben-wagin-der-kuenstler-der-politiker-dazu-bringt-baeume-stehen-zu-lassen-li.79463 | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref> From 1970 he regularly showed art installations at Art Basel. He founded the association Baumpatenverein (Godparents of trees) in Berlin, aiming at fostering the quality of urban life in that city.<ref name="Baumpatenverein">{{cite web | title=Baumpatenverein | website=Baumpatenverein | url=http://baumpatenverein.de/ | language=nl | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref><ref>''Baumpatenverein e. V.'' {{Cite web |url=http://www.berlin.de/2013/partner/sonstiges/baumpatenverein-ev/ |title=Berliner Themenjahr 2013: Baumpatenverein e.V. |access-date=7 April 2017 |archive-date=30 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130141106/http://www.berlin.de/2013/partner/sonstiges/baumpatenverein-ev/ |url-status=bot: unknown }} (Retrieved 18 November 2016)</ref> He exhibited at the Berlin-Pavillon in the 1970s, the orangery of Charlottenburg Palace, and also at the Lindentunnel next to Humboldt University from 1993 to 1996. He used a hall of the TU Berlin on Ackerstraße as a studio and exhibition space from 1983.<ref name="Wagin Herbold Klemke 2015 p. 232">{{cite book | last1=Wagin | first1=B. | last2=Herbold | first2=A. | last3=Klemke | first3=R. E. | title=Nenn mich nicht Künstler: Autobiografie Aufgezeichnet von Astrid Herbold | publisher=Ch. Links Verlag | year=2015 | isbn=978-3-86153-813-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sx6GBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA232 | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021 | page=232}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pressestelle.tu-berlin.de/medieninformationen/2007/maerz_nr_51-67/medieninformation_nr_612007/|title=Stabsstelle Kommunikation, Events und Alumni: Medieninformation Nr. 61/2007|website=www.pressestelle.tu-berlin.de}}</ref>
In many works, exhibitions and other performances, Wagin raised awareness of man-made changes to the natural environment. In 1975, he initiated one of the first murals in Berlin, at Siegmunds Hof, called ''Weltbaum I'' (''World Tree I''). It is to date one of the biggest of them. In 1985 he designed ''Weltbaum II'' with many other artists on the firewall at Berlin's Savignyplatz station.<ref name="Blankennagel 2021">{{cite web | last=Blankennagel | first=Jens | title=Ben Wagin und die Vernichtung eines Berliner Kunstwerks | website=Berliner Zeitung | date=9 June 2021 | url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/mensch-metropole/der-alte-mann-und-die-baeume-li.163777 | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref> Wagin planted numerous trees in and around Berlin, often with politicians and persons engaged in the cultural sector. As of 2019, Wagin's trees still stand in front of federal ministries, theatres, museums, among others in front of Berliner Ensemble, the Gedächtniskirche, and the Neue Nationalgalerie.<ref name="Prof. Monika Grütters 2019">{{cite web | title=Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Ben Wagin! | website=Prof. Monika Grütters | date=21 June 2019 | url=https://www.monika-gruetters.de/artikel/herzlichen-glueckwunsch-ben-wagin | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref>
In 2005, Wagin started "Sonnenboten" (Messengers of the Sun) which has since created 4 million oases of sunflowers together with schools and communities across Germany.<ref name="Aquatectura">{{cite web | title=Sonnenboten | website=Aquatectura | url=http://www.aquatectura.de/site/project/sonnenboten/ | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="Tagesspiegel 2010">{{cite web | title=Ein irrer Typ | website=Der Tagesspiegel | date=23 March 2010 | url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/baumpate-ein-irrer-typ/1723356.html | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref> Wagin was known as ''Baumpate'' (Godfather of Trees) nationwide and has been able to plant around 50,000 Ginkgo trees from Moscow to Vilshofen.<ref name="Prof. Monika Grütters 2019" />
thumb|upright=1.5|''The Parliament of Trees'' in 2010 Wagin created the installation ''The Parliament of Trees'' in the middle of Berlin's governmental quarter in the 1990s, as a monument for the victims at the Berlin Wall. He fought for years for its preservation. Pieces of the Wall designed by Wagin were included in the library building of the German national parliament in {{ill|Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus|de}} and are known as ''Mauer-Mahnmal des Bundestages'' (Memorial of the Berlin Wall of the German Parliament).<ref name="Deutscher Bundestag">{{cite web | title=Das Mauer-Mahnmal | website=Deutscher Bundestag | url=https://www.bundestag.de/besuche/kunst/mauermahnmal/mahnmal-207944 | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref>
From 2015 on, he converted the historic land as well as some of the halls of the former {{ill|Anhalter Güterbahnhof|de}}, part of the Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof right next to the German Museum of Technology, into a natural and cultural memorial site. Wagin was a member of Deutscher Künstlerbund, a German society of artists.<ref name="Deutscher Künstlerbund">{{cite web | title=Mitglieder – Ben Wagin | website=Deutscher Künstlerbund e.V. | url=https://www.kuenstlerbund.de/deutsch/mitglieder/ordentliche-mitglieder/wagin-ben.html?anc=790&ch=w | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021 | archive-date=30 July 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730131442/https://www.kuenstlerbund.de/deutsch/mitglieder/ordentliche-mitglieder/wagin-ben.html?anc=790&ch=w | url-status=dead }}</ref>
Wagin died in Berlin on 28 July 2021 at age 91.<ref name="Zeitung 2021">{{cite web | title=Mann der Bäume: Aktionskünstler Ben Wagin gestorben | website=Süddeutsche.de | date=29 July 2021 | url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/kunst-mann-der-baeume-aktionskuenstler-ben-wagin-gestorben-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-210729-99-599618 | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="GmbH 2021">{{cite news | title="Parlament der Bäume"-Initiator: Aktionskünstler Ben Wagin gestorben | website=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung | date=29 July 2021 | url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/menschen/aktionskuenstler-ben-wagin-gestorben-17459997.html | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="Spiegel 2021">{{cite web | title=Ben Wagin ist tot: Berliner Aktionskünstler war als "Baumpate" bekannt | website=Der Spiegel | date=29 July 2021 | url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/ben-wagin-ist-tot-berliner-aktionskuenstler-war-als-baumpate-bekannt-a-ae10ea4b-7627-48e4-8c7c-73a378e2d2d6 | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://manometcurrent.com/berlin-artist-ben-wagin-has-died/|title=Berlin artist Ben Wagin has died|date=29 July 2021|access-date=29 July 2021|archive-date=29 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729124439/https://manometcurrent.com/berlin-artist-ben-wagin-has-died/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="150px">
Ben Wargin (1995).jpg|Ben Wagin in the Lindentunnel, 1995 II Projekt Ben Wagin am Gräbendorfer See.JPG|Project at Gräbendorfer See Berlin - S-Bahnhof Savignyplatz (9603391400).jpg|Savignyplatz station </gallery>
== Publications == * {{cite book |last=Wagin |first=Ben |title=Nenn mich nicht Künstler |year=2015 |publisher=Ch. Links |location=Berlin |isbn=978-3-86153-813-4 |language=de}} * {{cite book |last=Wagin |first=Ben |title=Ginkgo-Botschaften Berlin |year=2002 |publisher=Jovis |location=Berlin |isbn=3-931321-09-6 |language=de}}
== Awards == * 1985: Bundesverdienstkreuz<ref name="DW.COM">{{cite web | title=Zum Tod von Ben Wagin: Freund der Bäume und der Menschen - 29.07.2021 | website=DW.COM | url=https://www.dw.com/de/zum-tod-von-ben-wagin-freund-der-b%C3%A4ume-und-der-menschen/a-58694855 | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref> * 1996: Victor-Wendland-Ehrenring<ref name="Stiftung Naturschutz Berlin">{{cite web | title=Victor-Wendland-Ehrenring – Stiftung Naturschutz Berlin | website=Stiftung Naturschutz Berlin | url=https://www.stiftung-naturschutz.de/veranstaltungen/berliner-naturschutzpreis-2021/victor-wendland-ehrenring | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="www.berlingeschichte.de">{{cite web | title=Probleme/Projekte/Prozesse: Victor-Wendland-Ring | website=Berlin von A-Z, Lexikon zur Stadt-Entwicklung, Chronik und Gegenwart— www.berlingeschichte.de | url=https://berlingeschichte.de/bms/bmstext/9805proh.htm | language=de | access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref> * 2010: Verdienstorden des Landes Berlin<ref name="DW.COM" />
== References == {{Reflist}} == External links == {{Commons category}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20170920233459/http://sonnenboten.de/ Ben Wagins Sonnenboten] * [https://www.ben-wagin.de Ben Wagin's own website] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20170408083043/http://www.berlin-in-bildern.de/categories.php?cat_id=34 Fotogalerie: Parlament der Bäume im Jahr 2006]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagin, Ben}} Category:1930 births Category:2021 deaths Category:Artists from Berlin Category:People from Złotów County Category:German sculptors Category:Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin