Wood sculpture meadow

On the wood sculpture meadow in Tornau , wood sculptures are exhibited, which are created with the help of chainsaws in the annual competition "Art with chainsaws" .

Emergence

Wooden sculpture showing the inventor of the wooden sculpture competition Wolfgang Köppe (2017)

In 1999, the Heidem painter Wolfgang Köppe (1926–2018) initiated the International Wood Sculpture Competition, now known as “Art with Chainsaws”. Since then, the event has taken place annually on the last weekend in July with international participation and growing numbers of visitors. By 2017, around 150 wooden sculptures had been created in the competitions. Some of the figures remain on the wooden sculpture meadow, other works are auctioned for the benefit of nature park projects or find a place as decoration in the Düben Heath .

"Art with chainsaws" competition

The party

Every year on the last weekend in July, the event has taken place on the wooden sculpture meadow at Hammerbach in Tornau since 2000 . The organizers are the municipality of Tornau, the association Dübener Heide e. V. and the inventor of the competition Wolfgang Köppe . In addition to a tour of the carving art , there is a colorful entertainment program with music, food and drinks as well as a Heidemarkt with typical products from heather fire to wooden sculpture tea . At the same time, the annual election of the "Köhlerliesel" takes place. Your task is to blacken men on the cheek with charcoal , this should bring them luck and a life 10 years longer. As compensation for the "art of painting" the men get a kiss.

"From an event for lovers, a family festival and the largest and most beautiful summer festival on the heath has developed"

- Enrico Schilling, Mayor of Graefenhainichen, 2014

Production of the works of art

Artists from Germany and several other countries carve the works of art out of two to three meter tall tree trunks with the help of chainsaws and other tools. The wood from poplar and oak is mostly used.

Award ceremony

The best works of art are awarded prizes in the following categories:

• Artist award
• Audience award, the festival visitors can vote for their favorite artist
• Köppe Prize, from 2018 Köppe Memorial Prize, donated by the festival's inventor Wolfgang Köppe

Award winners

No.	year	Artist award	Audience award	Köppe Prize	Information about the event
1	2000	?	?	?
2	2001	?	?	?	20 artists
3	2002	Roland Lindner	Alf Kampfmeier	?
4th	2003	Sebastian Seiffert	?	?
5	2004	?	?	?
6th	2005	Frank Mueller	?	?	26 artists, 3,000 visitors
7th	2006	Günther Wurl	Sebastian Seiffert	Dieter Kruger	35 artists, 4,000 visitors Motto " Trees grow for the benefit of the people "
8th	2007	Ted Behrens	Axel gloss	Dieter Kruger	Motto " Trees don't just grow into the sky, they also make history "
9	2008	?	?	?
10	2009	?	?	?	34 artists, 6,000 visitors
11	2010	?	?	Raik Zenger	29 artist motto " Trees are the elixir of life for humans and animals "
12	2011	Sergei Dischlewoi	Axel gloss	Raik Zenger	39 artists, 3,500 visitors
13	2012	?	?	?
14th	2013	Winfried Breuning	Mike Richter	Raik Zenger	45 artists, 2,500 visitors
15th	2014	Christian Schmidt	Andrej Löchel	Raik Zenger	35 artists, 5,582 visitors Motto "The soul of a person is the soul of the tree "
16	2015	Christian Schmidt	Axel gloss	John Buckland Callum Evens Patrick Shaughessy	40 artists, 6,000 visitors
17th	2016	Michael Krüger Christian Schmitt	Michael Krüger Christian Schmitt	?	39 artists, 5,000 visitors slogan " Trees connect generations " The MDR turned with Maxi Arland and Frank Sinatra for the entertainment show "Music in the Country"
18th	2017	Axel gloss	Axel gloss	Alf Kampfmeier	30 artists, 5,000 visitors Motto " Trees build bridges "
19th	2018	Ted Behrens	Alf Kampfmeier Olaf Jensen	Alf Kampfmeier	40 artists, 3,000 visitors (due to the heat of 34 degrees) Motto "When the bees die, the humans die too" In honor of and in memory of the Heidem painter and initiator of this event, Wolfgang Köppe , who died in 2018 , the participants planted a beech tree on the fairground on July 28, 2018 at 12:00 noon and put up a wooden plaque with the inscription "Köppe-Buche" .
20th	2019	Bogumila Canibal	Sonja Kremer	Felix Altenburg	36 artists from Germany, Poland, Denmark, England, Austria and Switzerland, 4,000 visitors (despite 30 degrees of heat) Motto "In the footsteps of fairies, elves and forest spirits" The popular band " De Randfichten " from the Ore Mountains performed for the 20th anniversary .

Web links

• Association Dübener Heide e. V.
• Wolfgang Köppe, inventor of the wood sculpture competition
• Tornau community

Individual evidence

1. ^ Website of Heidemaler Wolfgang Köppe " . Biography, accessed on August 29, 2017.
2. ↑ Leipziger Volkszeitung from July 17, 2017 . Article, accessed August 29, 2017.
3. ^ Website of the Dübener Heide Nature Park . Article, accessed August 29, 2017.
4. ↑ Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of August 1, 2016 . Article, accessed August 29, 2017.
5. ↑ Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of July 30, 2016 . Article, accessed August 29, 2017.
6. ↑ Wood sculpture festival in Dübener Heide - 34 artists are at the start. Leipziger Volkszeitung , July 16, 2014.
7. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from August 2nd, 2001 . ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
8. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from August 1st, 2002 . ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
9. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from August 14, 2003 . ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
10. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from August 4th, 2005 . ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
11. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from August 9, 2006 . ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
12. ^ Website of the Dübener Heide Nature Park . Article, accessed August 29, 2017.
13. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from July 29, 2009 . ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
14. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from August 4th, 2010 . ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
15. ↑ Leipziger Volkszeitung from July 23, 2010 . Article, accessed August 29, 2017.
16. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from August 3rd, 2011 . ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
17. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from July 31, 2013 . ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
18. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from August 6, 2014 . ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
19. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from August 5th, 2015 . ( Memento of the original from August 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
20. ↑ Leipziger Volkszeitung from July 31, 2016 . Article, accessed August 29, 2017.
21. ↑ Dübener Wochenspiegel from August 2nd, 2017 . ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article, accessed August 29, 2017. 
22. ↑ Steffen Brost: Dübener Heide: Artists sweat at 40 degrees. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung. Leipziger Volkszeitung, July 29, 2018, accessed on July 29, 2018 . 
23. ^ Verein Dübener Heide eV: International wood sculpture competition in the Dübener Heide nature park. In: Homepage. Verein Dübener Heide eV, July 19, 2018, accessed on July 29, 2018 . 
24. ↑ 20th International Wood Sculpture Competition in Tornau. Retrieved August 4, 2019 . 

Coordinates: 51 ° 37 ′ 50.1 "  N , 12 ° 35 ′ 37.1"  E