Ernesto Neto's Amazonian Forest Installation at Zurich Central Station

Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto (b. 1964, Rio de Janeiro) has created 'GaiaMotherTree', a monumental public art installation at Zurich Central Station, presented by Fondation Beyeler until July 29. The 20-meter-tall sculpture resembles a tree made of hand-crocheted colorful fabric strips, weighted with hundreds of kilos of spices like turmeric, cumin, and black pepper. It took over four years to realize and involved 27 assistants. The work draws on Brazilian neoconcretism and Arte Povera. Visitors can touch, walk through, and sit in a circular seating area at the base, with events including music, meditation, and workshops. Concurrently, Fondation Beyeler in Basel hosts a show of Neto's sculptures from the 1980s and 1990s, and his 2017 work 'Altar for a plant' is in the museum park. Neto has lived with the Huni Kuin indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon since 2013, deeply influencing his focus on spirituality, ecology, and human-nature relationships.