Vanité urbaineUn mausolée du bois mort
Damaris Baumann (CH)

Is that strange mound a hut? A pyre? Circling it, you find a door! In this peaceful site conducive to contemplation, Damaris Baumann has built a mausoleum in the middle of the Haras (a former stud farm). It’s a small monument to dead wood, where cut branches slowly decompose, paying tender homage to our cities’ trees.

Trees are charming to look at, calm us, and sometimes console us. Altering the air we breathe, they are essential parts of our stone cities. The City’s gardeners work to maintain their delicate balance. But what happens to their branches after they’ve been trimmed? After collecting wood from the winter trimming, Baumann hand-tied the wood in bundles using a traditional method and built the mausoleum from the bundles. Come in! Inside, a small mushroom crop is helping the wood decompose. This new kind of “futility” (vanité) might reduce us to our human condition, and might also remind us that from dead wood, springs life.


Born in Zurich (Switzerland) in 1978, Damaris Baumann trained as an architect and has a degree in spatial design. Her work revolves around how we see and physically experience the landscape and public places. She likes to use artisanal techniques to construct her creations.

 

Winner of the 2019 Lausanne jardins competition with Vanitas.

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VenueHarasOpen the map

Created in 2021


As part of the Annecy-Lausanne NATUROPOLIS project


Thanks to the Landscapes & Biodiversity department of the city of Annecy


Special thanks to the participants of the “ARAVIS LAC” workcamp of the CCVT (Communauté de Commune de la Vallée de Thônes) for the making of the 1200 bundles


Installation subject to schedules
Open frome Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 10pm

Naturopolis