Stimulating multi-species-communities through citizen engaging art.
On a site of an old asphalt factory, now being transformed, we are engaged in a redefinition of a character that is important to reconnect citizens with nature: The Garden Caretaker. A role that embodies cross-disciplinary skills unfolding through the intersection of art, storytelling, biodiversity and citizens engagement, facilitating social art pieces that seek to stimulate and strengthen multi-species-communities, hereby introducing art as a method for social and ecological regeneration.
National
Denmark
- Municipality of Herlev on Zealand, Denmark
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Yes
Horizon2020 / Horizon Europe
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No
Yes
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): NXT Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Flemming Last name of representative: Wisler Gender: Male Nationality: Denmark Function: Creative Director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Nybrogade 26A, stuen Town: Copenhagen K. Postal code: 1203 Country: Denmark Direct Tel:+45 28 35 05 41 E-mail:wisler@nxtbrand.dk Website:https://www.nxtbrand.dk/blog/
Name of the organisation(s): Being of Place (Stedets Vaesen) Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Madeleine Kate Last name of representative: McGowan Gender: Female Nationality: Denmark If relevant, please select your other nationality: Ireland Function: Artist & Creative Leader Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Ydunsgade 3, stuen Town: Copenhagen N Postal code: 2200 Country: Denmark Direct Tel:+45 53 99 15 81 E-mail:madeleinekate@otherstory.dk Website:https://www.nxtbrand.dk/blog/nxt-in-the-danish-new-european-bauhaus-proposal/
URL:https://www.nxtbrand.dk/blog/ Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): https://www.instagram.com/media.art.rebellion/
What happens when we listen to a place before we develop it? With this question at heart, we introduce The Garden Caretaker.
On the site of an old asphalt factory in Herlev (DK) which is being transformed into a thriving green housing area, we are introducing a redefinition of the old caretaker role. We call this new character - The Garden Caretaker. The Garden Caretaker will be embodied by various artists that represent a diverse and dynamic field of different practices. The site will be inhabited by The Garden Caretaker while it is being transformed, turning an otherwise inaccessible construction-site into an inviting cultural space, exploring how an interdisciplinary educational arts-platform can engage citizens into a sense of belonging. The Garden Caretaker's House is a transparent temporary dome construction created from circular materials which will be holding space for workshops, roundtable discussions, sensorial performances, laboratory, and exhibitions.
With The Garden Caretaker initiative, we invite a diverse group of stakeholders into an aesthetic exploration on how we may develop ways of living that care for land and its inhabitants without exploiting and over-consuming resources, considered against the backdrop of today’s climate and biodiversity crises. Inspired by the late French philosopher Bruno Latour, who states that - "If you don't know something, you will not fight for it", this project seeks to reconcile human inhabitants with the natural landscape through an aesthetic and sensuous learning-process. Focusing on thriving urban and natural habitats, we seek to ensure that citizens grow and nurture biodiversity as an integrated part of the future, stimulating multi-species-communities and introducing art as a method for social and ecological regeneration.
Multi-species
Relationships
Art
Habitat
Regeneration
The Garden Caretaker project has four key objectives, all of which embed a sustainable approach: socially (education and co-creation with diverse stakeholders), environmentally (biodiversity and living ecosystems), circularity (regenerative impact), and artistic practice (aesthetic inhabitation).
The social perspective is rooted in an educational approach, which encourages co-creation between artists and the local community, as a method for cultural creation, sense of belonging, and identity formation, in the transition from polluted industrial area to a thriving green housing area. Through collaboration with local institutions (e.g. schools, kindergartens and nursing homes) the Garden Caretaker engages citizens actively in the green transition.
The environmental perspective is rooted within the ecology of place, creating better conditions for all living systems – humans as well as non-humans. The Garden Caretaker is a nurturer and stimulator of the multispecies community, the inner and outer ‘greening’. As a pioneer project, the Garden Caretaker will take direct action in changing the perception of what a green community is, and how to stimulate it.
The circularity aspect is present through diverse eco-art practices, which exclusively utilizes local and sustainable materials, like clay and moss, or other objects found in the surrounding landscapes. Furthermore, the Garden Caretaker’s House, a mini-dome, is locally designed and sourced, and constructed to be disassembled and rebuilt repeatedly. Instead of a concrete foundation, it’s build on a screw foundation, ensuring low carbon emissions.
The artistic objective finds its inspiration within social arts practices, where performativity and immersive approaches to the participating local community is key to be able to explore sensory and educational knowledge about place, biodiversity and community. Through the role of The Garden Caretaker, artists will work to deepen our relationship with nature.
To unfold the key objectives of The Garden Caretaker project in terms of aesthetics, it is important to initially unfold our understanding of 'aesthetic'. According to German philosopher Alexander Baumgarten, he understands aesthetics as 'experience, perception and cognition through the senses'. It is within this understanding that we unfold this project. Further we view this initiative as 'relational aesthetics', which by Nicolas Bourriaud is a term used to describe how the relational artwork is a framework for encounters between people which emerges through and depends on audience participation. Inspired by this, The Garden Caretaker is a framework for multi-species-encounters and the key objectives are, that a sense of belonging will be stimulated through an aesthetic sensorial educational process, leading citizens into a heightened engagement in the greening of the local landscapes. Further, it is our objective to introduce participatory artists into the green transition, exploring the potentials of art as a 'greening of the inner landscapes', leading to a heightened sense of responsibility for the 'greening of the outer landscapes'.
Within the Nordic art scene, a current wave of practitioners are leaving the classical art spaces and inviting citizens to participate in explorations of care work for land and its inhabitants; sensitizing citizens to place, habitat, and the-more-than-human. It is a key objective to facilitate social art pieces, sonic landscape walks, poetic multi-species storytelling, regenerative citizen engaging art processes of both high artistic and regenerative value; seeking to stimulate and strengthen multi-species relationships - hereby introducing art as a method for social and ecological regeneration.
In the very early stages of our concept development, we initiated a cross-disciplinary 'listening to place', rooting the project in a site-specific sensitivity, grounding the architects, landscape architects and developers in a sensory engagement with voices that are often left overheard in urban planning. As an example we registered that the old industrial site had been a breeding point for generations of kestrels, with their home in the chimney of the old asphalt factory. Seeking to inspire the larger transformation to be inclusive from a multi-species perspective.
Through an initial open call procedure, we established a democratised process to find those artists that will embody The Garden Caretaker project. Artists that are not necessarily from the old art institutions, but who unfold a practice through an interdisciplinary skillset - in the intersection of art, storytelling, biodiversity, and circularity. It is a key objective with this project, to involve diverse citizen stakeholder groups through a language that is accessible and through invitations that are free. We are conscious about the way art-world language can be an excluding factor for many people, and consciously seek to challenge this. Throughout the project we will involve local citizen groups through a close collaboration with Herlev municipality and local cultural institutions such as schools, senior homes and libraries.
As a relational artwork, The Garden Caretaker project depends on the involvement of citizen groups, holding a crucial space for people of all ages and backgrounds. It is a key objective to invite and activate citizens from kindergardens, schools, reading groups, gardening communities, senior homes and various educational platforms, engaging participants into experiencing, perceiving and reflecting through their senses, while interacting bodily with a variation of multi-species textures, narratives, facts and habitats. Reconciling human inhabitants with the natural landscape through an aesthetic and sensuous learning-process. Further we seek to explore the tools of making 'the greening of landscapes' the irresistible choice by mobilising artists and activating an aesthetic practice through a site inhabitation of a new artist platform and space. The Garden Caretaker project will be shaped by all involved and every artist potentially leaves behind a trace on the inner and outer landscapes of the local community and its inhabitants. Further, the different art processes will potentially have affected the level of biodiversity within the area and every artist leaves a set of invitations behind, creating a manual on how to be The Garden Caretaker in that specific place.
The Garden Caretaker project has many and diverse stakeholders; artists, businesses in architectural and construction industries, local citizens, and the multi-species community.
Early on, The Garden Caretaker initiative gained interest from leading international businesses, e.g. NCC and Green Point, due to our ability to work across sectors, applying artistic methods in the development of ‘place’ in cooperation with constructors. Our work has already sparked inspiration in the industry, challenging old habits and usual objectives to greener, more inclusive alternatives – dripple down effects of our visions for a healthy multi-species community is now visible in discourses as well as specific measures at a building site.
On a regional level, Being of Place and the Garden Caretaker initiative is working continuously to foster and sustain a strong community of artists working in the sphere of immersive and transformative “green arts”, which employ approaches from New Materialism. The Garden Caretaker project thus aims to inspire, develop and strengthen this specific artistic milieu, and its role in society, by engaging their practices in the very early stages of urban development projects.
Furthermore, on a local level, we actively engage local citizens, members of the municipality, and the multi-species community in the process through co-creating workshops. By engaging the multi-species community and expanding the perspective from human to more-than-human, the Garden Caretaker initiative upholds a radical regenerative practice and potential impact.
The knowledge fields of The Garden Caretaker initiative stretch over several sectors and stakeholder groups. Mapping the knowledge-creation within this initiative, we find that the learnings intersect across disciplines in e.g. city planning and construction, artistic practice, pedagogy, biology and geology. Through artistic practice and the sensing of place, we explore and share knowledge with professionals working in the building and construction industry, in order to create better living conditions for humans as well as non-human species alike.
Concurrently we involve citizens to explore their local habitat through artistic methods which stimulates a sense of belonging, a listening to place, an evoking of attentiveness, and creates a sense of interconnectedness across species (hereby referencing the in-depth research by Donna Haraway, Bruno Latour, Anna Tsing, Jane Bennett and many others within the fields of New Materialism and Deep Ecology). The artists play a vital role in facilitating the engagements between species, and encourage us to spend time, pay attention and dwell in the moments of being-with-others. Immersive practices stimulate our bodily encounters, allowing us to explore the richness of our living world – even the things that are perhaps not visible to us on a daily basis.
Repeatedly evaluating these practices and hands-on experiences with the involved practices, enable us to re-iterate the project process, each time refining our learning design to accommodate deeper and even more transformative experiences for everyone involved. The aim is to articulate our acquired learnings through The Garden Caretaker project, to share them with artist communities, members of municipalities, policy makers and practitioners of urban development across the EU.
The commitment of bringing a multi-species perspective in to the very core of urban development and doing so with art as a method, has already affected the hearts and minds of certain stakeholders working within the architectural and construction industries. By adapting immaterial art practices, which honor sensory knowledge formation instead of simply applying visual or “aesthetic” object-based art-forms to a project, we aim to change the way in which we build and renovate city spaces remarkably.
The more-than-human perspective brings sensitivity to flora and fauna through direct experiences and encounters, which activates an attentiveness to the living systems around us. This process of becoming aware, evoking a sense of belonging, and experiencing deep connectedness with the natural world through aesthetic experiences, holds the potential of creating substantial change in our ways of living. In addition, when the Garden Caretaker becomes an essential stimulator of ‘place’ it brings value to all levels of development; economically, socially, environmentally, aesthetically.
Compared to other projects which utilize art as a tool in urban development, we argue that the Garden Caretaker initiative is significantly pushing a conservative, high-emission industry to think and, even more importantly, do differently – for the good of both people and planet. The Garden Caretaker project thus supports the EU taxonomy regulations and inspire businesses to transform their modes of production to greener and more sustainable alternatives. Simultaneously the project invites innovation from the artistic communities as well, by establishing an inter-sectional arts platform on the stages of everyday life. Asking questions such as - How do we create neighbourhoods for more than the human species? How can art be a stimulator of a multi-species-community?
It is a key objective to document the process through qualitative interviews with local participants of all ages, with the involved artists and with stakeholders within the transformation process of the site, such as developers and workers on the construction-site. Further, we will document the artworks through photography, audio and video, opening up a potentially wide communication of our findings, textures and reflections. We imagine that the site-specific art-pieces developed during the initial inhabitation period, will be re-activated by local citizens via the production of a manual, inviting the citizens to become The Garden Caretaker.
The potentially rich documentation within this project, will be our foundation for establishing strong insights into the educational potential of an aesthetic inhabitation such as The Garden Caretaker project. From earlier projects which we have created and facilitated, such as the Dome of Visions project, our documentation made it clear, that an aesthetic inhabitation can stimulate ecological connectedness and that such spaces must be more accessible. In the larger perspective and in terms of scalability, we therefore believe that cities, municipalities, developers and urban planners all over Europe, will find it favorable from a multi-species perspective, to invite the new role of the garden caretaker into their neighbourhoods and projects.
From the early stages of this project we have used an iterative process to develop the framework of The Garden Caretaker, inviting a diverse and cross-disciplinary group of professionals into a 'listening to place', otherwise also known as a registration of place. The core group of practitioners represented the intersection of art, biodiversity, circularity and storytelling - engaging a performance artist, an anthropologist working with urban bees, an architect and specialist in material circularity, and last a professional storyteller. Each practitioner engaged in a regestration of the old industrial grounds through a palette of their respective registration tools - citizen interviews, material readings, sound recordings, photography, paintings, sensory physical registrations, interviews with workers from the old factories, historical research, biological insights, multi-species-mappings, analysis of social sensitivities and patterns.
The Being of Place [Stedets Væsen], as the NXT method is called, aims to ensure that qualities are conserved and amplified in construction projects to increase future value while remaining embedded in receptivity toward locally bound qualities and the ‘hidden voices’ of place. We place ourselves within the tradition of New Materialism and Being of Place poses a series of questions to identify regenerative forces present at project sites, seeking to guide design toward incorporating features that grow site value in a holistic sense, the general curiosity of which can be boiled down to this question - what is experienced as valuable life in future buildings and urban environments?
At a fundamental level we must as a human society, realise, that we are radically inter-connected with everything else on this planet. That this age of natural crises is a symptom of 'a culture of separation', and that we to transform this culture must create spaces that stimulate a deep sense of connectedness at all ecological levels, crucial in order to transition into a regenerative future. And that this kind of transition can only happen if we 'get down to Earth' as Bruno Latour would say. By knowing where we live and for securing habitability for a multitude of living creatures. In an extremely carbon heavy industry such as the building and construction sector, we challenge the un-rooted and floating perspective of the 'google-map-view' that many developers, architects and landscape architects have been caught in. That we instead invite into a deep listening to place, opening a multi-species perspective, stimulating new modes of circularity. Aiming to ensure that qualities are conserved and amplified in transformation and renovation projects of lived housing areas, to increase future value while remaining embedded in receptivity toward locally bound qualities and the ‘hidden voices’ of place – the social, sensory, historic and ecological.
Within the first phases of this project, the most relevant educational potential unfolded within the stakeholder groups connected to the specific building projects, such as Green Point, NCC and Urban Power, representing the developers, investors and landscape architects. We seek to have a pre-liminary impact and it is our main objective to inspire these stakeholders to become as visionary as possible within criteria of sustainability, inclusion, beauty and circularity. This is done though educational and sensorial presentations, engagements, reports and site walks, as we wish to bring stakeholder groups into the matter of the site and all its inhabitants. These first steps have been completed successfully and we have managed to inspire all involved, pushing the ambitions for this project and establishing partnership agreements and funding.
Further we have been successful in a yearlong engagement with the DESIRE consortium, including partners such as Danish industry and BLOX (Danish Design Center, Danish Architecture Center). We were a part of the core group articulating the DESIRE (Designing the Irresistible Circular Society) project, affecting the discourse within the project, inspiring a new understanding of the potential of art as art of the green transition, which then ultimately lead to the official announcement - that we are one of three demonstrator sites within the DESIRE project, as a Lighthouse Demonstrator Project, within The New European Bauhaus.
With many years of cultural inter-sectional experience behind us, we now look forward to testing our educational methods though this yearlong aesthetic inhabitation of the old industrial site in Herlev (DK), from April 2023 to April 2024.
