Das Dritte Land

The artist garden, „Das Dritte Land“ by Seok Hyun Han and Seung Hwoe Kim was opened on Matthäikirchplatz at Kulturforum on May 23, 2019 and stood in the location there until April 15, 2022. In the anniversary year of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the artists‘ garden The Third Land reflected the history of Germany and the present of Korea as a place for political reflection. With the project, Korean artists Han Seok Hyun and Kim Seung Hwoe want to bring the existence of borders and the hope of overcoming them back into the public consciousness.

The Kulturforum is a place that reflects the eventful history of the divided Berlin during the Cold War in a particularly multifaceted way. The Wall ran in the immediate vicinity. The Forum was built as a counterpart to the Museum Island in East Berlin and was intended to become a symbol of West Berlin. Matthäikirchplatz, which had been laid out by the architect Friedrich August Stüler as a paradisiacal front garden of St. Matthew’s Church and was transformed into a narrow traffic circle in the post-war period, has become a stage with the Third Land, on which the Korean wild plants stage a play of arrivals and departures in the rhythm of the seasons.

The construction of the garden at the Kulturforum was made possible by a successful crowdfunding campaign. Over 160 supporters worldwide donated more than 30,000 euros within thirty days for the transport and care of the plants and the construction of the garden.

Cooperation partner: St. Matthew’s Foundation
Realization: Ingo Bauditz Garten- und Landschaftsbau GmbH
Consulting: FUGMANN JANOTTA PARTNER, Landscape Architects I Landscape Planners
Plants: Aboretum Baekdudaegan (백두대간식물원), South Korea
Technical maintenance: Uwe Rommel
Assistance: Caro Greifenstein, Hwisu Yoo
Press: Corinna Wolfien, Dahee Seo
Visual Identity: Young Sam Kim
Documentation: Dahahm Choi, Christian Frey, Dongryoung Han, Dahee Seo
Garden maintenance: Beate Rhode, Clemens Wilhelm

On the initiative of the Kunstmuseen Erfurt, Das Dritte Land was moved from the Berlin Kulturforum to Erfurt’s Petersberg (at the foot of the Martin bastion of the Petersberg citadel), with a view of the Brühl district of the city center, the Erfurt Opera, the cathedral and the Severi Church. On October 3, 2022, the artist garden was opened as part of the official celebrations for the Day of German Unity under the motto „growing together“. Since then, 35 different species of wild plants from North and South Korea have been growing in this garden. From a distance, the garden looks like a mountain landscape. The interplay of the water vapor rising from the ground and the mountains formed from basalt is reminiscent of the picturesque perspectives of Korean landscape painting from the Joseon period.

„Das Dritte Land in Erfurt will not be one garden artwork among many in Erfurt. It will invite not only contemplation but also use. Meetings will be held there, films will be shown and music will be played. It will become a lively place of cultural and political exchange, also of remembrance, not least of the fascination that emanates from such a landscape „en miniature“ and the plants growing here in the change of the seasons“ (quote: Dr. Kai-Uwe Schierz, the director of the Kunstmuseum Erfurt from the foreword of the catalog : Das Dritte Land zwischen Poetik und Politik)

The transfer of the Artists‘ Garden to Erfurt was made possible by the kind support of the Korea Foundation, Thuringia State Chancellery, Erfurt City Council (Garden and Cemetery Office, Erfurt Art Museums) and the Erfurt Art Association. The opening of the Artists‘ Garden in Erfurt was kindly supported by the Ministry of Unification Republic of Korea.

Organizer: Art Gallery Erfurt, Erfurt Art Association
Realization: Garden and Cemetery Office Erfurt
Assistance: Yujin Lee
Plant consulting: Byunlchorong Wildflower(별초롱야생화), Hongcheon, South Korea
Garden maintenance & documentation: Hye-Kyoung Choi, Garden and Cemetery Office Erfurt