BAUMWELTEN @ The Venice Glass Week HUB

The sacrality of nature and the environment are crucial in Italian author, poet and artist Dino Buzzati’s 1935 novel ‘ll segreto del Bosco Vecchio‘ (The Secret of the Old Woods). The story’s main character redeems his humanity by saving a forest from destruction and connecting meaningfully with the trees and the enchanted creatures that inhabit them.

Much like Buzzati, Janine Thüngen-Reichenbach has always held the sacredness of nature and the survival of magic at heart, her work consistently personifying the alternatively parallel and tangent journeys of imagination and rationality and their quest for recognition and redemption. 

The Baumwelten, or tree worlds, fall sweetly in this narrative. Janine turns her inquisitive mind to the observation of trees in order to find explanations to wider ecological themes such as the interconnection between the planet’s flora, and the need for a respectful and peaceful coexistence between humankind and the natural environment in the interest and for the survival of both. 

Baumwelten are borne of negative impressions of three different tree barks: a Prunus Armeniaca from Janine’s garden on the ancient Appia Antica, Rome, cast in yellow, the colour of its flower’s pistil; Quercus Suber, the cork oak, also from the Via Appia Antica, in sky blue; and Euonymus Japonicus from her garden in Venice, where its shade falls on the patio like a protective hat, hence its nickname, 'Berretto del prete'. This sculpture is cast in a candid white reminiscent of the evergreen tree’s beautiful white flowers, adorned in autumn by orange berry-sized fruits. 

Stemming from each sculpture are delicate branches created and lamp blown by Maestro Vittorio Costantini, a Burano island native deeply attached to the beauty of Venice, the lagoon and to the abundance and variety of flowers, birds, butterflies, insects and marine creatures they harbour. His meticulous and exquisite creations, delicate and precious microcosms, have garnered him widespread recognition. The wild flowers in the Baumwelten are handpicked by Janine on the island of St Erasmo, a short boat ride away, to further underline the beauty of nature’s interconnectivity.

Janine’s arboreal enquiries express her scientific and philosophical interest in the fundamental role trees play both in the story and the health of humankind. Common sense and scientific research have shown that trees have a calming effect on most people, reducing levels of cortisol and adrenaline, improving moods and giving a sense of peace and security. As Janine has often told me, “Looking at a tree, leaning against it or hugging it makes me feel like Saint-Exupéry's Little Prince. It’s pure happiness.”

Francesca de' Medici 🍀 

Independent curator