An outdoor sculpture by Jerzy Bereś from 1972 on Wyspa Piasek in Wrocław - a tree torn out of the ground and set upside down on a circular square.
The ARENA Living Monument (Polish: Żywy Pomnik ARENA) is an outdoor sculpture by Jerzy Bereś, installed on Wyspa Piasek (Sand Island) in Wrocław. It was created as one of the projects prepared for the Wrocław '70 Visual Arts Symposium and forms a small, circular square in the middle of the island.
The central element is a tree torn out of the ground and set upside down with its roots in the air, surrounded by benches. The circular square is divided into two parts: one paved with asphalt, the other planted with grass and six young trees. In keeping with the original concept, the roots of the exposed tree are painted green every spring, meant to symbolise renewal together with the young leaves of the trees planted beside it.
The project was created in 1970 at the Wrocław '70 Visual Arts Symposium. Students carried out the first installation on 20 October 1972. In 1983 the sculpture was dismantled to make room for a helicopter landing site during the Pope's visit. It was partly recreated in 1993, and a full reconstruction was carried out on 26 April 2010. The final version, with the roots painted green, was completed on 1 April 2011.
Every spring an event is held to paint the tree's roots green. In 2013-2018 the event was run by the Academy of Fine Arts, and since 2019 it has been organised by Galeria Entropia with the support of the Bereś family foundation.
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