Garden of Hope 2021

“Garden of Hope” emerged from my interdisciplinary seminar Art and Design in Times of Climate Change which was open to students of the HFBK of all years and disciplines. In the face of environmental disasters and pandemics, it is necessary to change the narrative structures that shape our world, and art and design can be powerful tools in this. After a preparatory phase, which included research through video-essays, and designing plans for the garden, the practical implementation began in the garden of the Finkenau 42, building on infrastructures that already existed there, for example through the previous project hhintersection and the barbecue and pizza oven infrastructures. At the beginning of June 2021, in a two-day workshop with the Berlin-based architect David Presley Moritz, who has learned the ancient building technique of rammed earth, the basic structure of an earthen sitting infrastructure was created. For this purpose, a mixture of clay, sand and gravel was tamped down to the right density in a wooden mould – which was repeatedly checked by measurements. In the end, three clay building modules resulted in a semi-circular structure that is to function as an agora, a place of assembly. Handmade tiles were made collectively to cover the earthen structure at the top as protection against rain and as sitting surface.For this we used the Japanese technique nerikomi: making patterns by mixing different colours of clay. Other projects which are still in research phase are about composting, carbon sequestation, and cultivating edible plants and plants used for natural dyes.

with: Mu-Heng Tsai, Qai Hew, Ronja Soopan, Marko Liepelt, Imke Empelman, Lena  Sandhof, Sveon Schoeder, Konstantin von Notzing, Julia Nordholz, Sorscha Noble, Irini Schwab, Jung Long, Elisa Kracht, Myeongin Shin, Johanna Langner, Karoline Banke, Anastasia Lola, Faro Lienert, Jakob Mewes, Annabel Lin, Marcus Kjellingbro , Gioanna Scarlini , Gennet Beer , Laura Kahler , Selma Ermatinger , Lukas Grubba, Sina Stein,

Photos: Tim Albrecht

Quest expert on rammed earth architecture: David Presley Moritz