The focus of Hendrik Barth’s artistic work is colour-intensive abstract painting, often in combination with black and white photocopies, barcodes or fractal geometry. In his installations, objects and actions, the artist addresses ecological issues, but the focus is always on people in their thoughts, feelings and actions. With his art rental Artrent, Hendrik Barth makes a contribution to the circular economy: it is about experiencing art rather than owning it; the limited period of time until it is returned encourages intensive engagement with the work.

Waldrelikte
1994, acrylic glass, wood

The work Waldrelikte was created in 1994 on the occasion of a competition organised by the Swiss “Heimatwerk” on the subject of “bäumig”. Hendrik Barth associated the term “bäumig”, which actually has positive connotations, with dying forests. This had already preoccupied the artist in his youth, when acid rain destroyed large areas of forest in Europe and prompted him to become involved in environmental protection. For this work, the artist collected pieces of dead trees with traces of human activity in the Uetliberg forest. The finds are preserved in acrylic glass tubes sealed with chrome steel as reminders of forests of times gone by – as museum relics or scientific objects.