During summer of 2006 his wife was here in my garden with a group. And she told me that her husband is working for Bavarian Television do direct movies and possibly could be exited about making a feature abut WP as 'bonsai master' . I said that this is very nice, but that I was rather not so interested in such things. Some time later Sigi Menzel came by with his racing bike and looked at my collection. He mentioned that a feature about my work would be quite interesting. I turned it down because my experiences with such features are not so good "There they come three of them, ruining my lawn all day, drinking my coffee, go to my toilette, steal my time, I talk endlessly. Finally they send a movie about bees, flowers, and little awesome trees. And the silliest things that I said all days are sent. This is not the kind of feature that I imagine." Sigi Menzel seemed impressed. " So what are you imagining?" " A feature about bonsai only makes sense to me if it shows bonsai as a serious art form."
More than a year later Mr Menzel called and said that he was ready to start the feature about bonsai as an art form. he came to my Late Summer Meeting in 2009 and again the Monday after with a full crew. On October 1, 2009 the feature was sent on Bavarian Television. It got great attention among the German bona acne and also bonsaists from abroad watched it.
The day after a lady called me and said something along the lines "I am responsible at BMW for the artistic representation in BMW World. last night my husband watched a feature on Bavarian Television and I walked by accidentally. I saw immediately that this is really art. I must see this. Are you interested in an exhibit in BMW World?" "What is BMW World?". This historic sentence I said exactly so. I am interested in cars like in sewing machines, they just have to do their job.
The next day the lady came in spite of my remark. There were a few other visitors who came because of the television feature. She sneaked around unnoticed for more than an hour. Then Mrs. Mattejat said "This is really great art, it is even better than on television. We will have an exhibit at BMW World. This will be an art exhibit with tree sculptures; we avoid the word 'bonsai'.
From then on it was all downhill. And it is all the fault of Sigi Menzel. or rather his wife?
BTW, by now I know that BMW World is one of the important attractions in Bavaria with around 10,000 visitors every day.
