Valentin Herweck (*1978, Bonn, DE) is a Berlin-based artist. He studied sculpture at Berlin Weissensee School of Art, graduating in 2007, and completed his Master under Inge Mahn in 2009. Since 2012, he has collaborated with Irene Pätzug as the artist duo Pätzug/Hertweck.

His work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including Procession at L’Église in Rennes (2025), SURBURBAN SPELL at Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin (2023), the 7th Thessaloniki Biennale (2019), and Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan (2023). He has received several awards and residencies, including the Mart Stam Prize (2008), a DAAD residency in Bilbao (2014), and the Guangxi Residency in China (2025). His works are included in the collection of the State Museum Schwerin.

Pine Vault. Four pine trees are connected through their crowns. From the regular structure of the planted pine forest emerges a space reminiscent of a Gothic rib vault. Architecture is not imposed onto nature here – it develops from within it. Nature becomes architecture.The work shifts our perception of the trees: individual organisms become a collective body. The vault does not emerge through the addition of material, but through the convergence of existing forces. Like its stone counterpart, it is based on a relationship between tension and load – yet here sustained by elasticity, growth, and the vitality of the trees. Wind, weather, and growth continuously transform its form. The seemingly solid structure remains a living state. Thus, Pine Vault raises the question of who is shaping whom: Does architecture emerge from nature, or does the architectural structure transform our perception of the forest?