A diary of our residency week in Lichtenberg

Plant walks at the lake, around the train station, in parks and in a graveyard — our week as artists in residence at Lichtenberg Studios flew by. On Friday, a few days before our departure, we hosted a plant talk and discussion, featuring the video diary of our Lichtenberg explorations above.

Sara improvised a live soundtrack for the video on her mandolin. After the short film, we showed a selection of photos from Lichtenberg and from this blog, discussing several questions about urban plants that come up again and again in our work:

1. In what spaces do urban plants grow?
2. Are the plants struggling or thriving?
3. People vs. plants: are they in conflict or in harmony?
4. What attitudes do people have towards urban plants – their “own” plants and other plants?
5. What might visual representations of plants say about city dwellers?
6. What benefits do urban plants offer us, e.g. green spaces, parks, recreation, edible and medicinal plants…

Our slideshow included some photos from this blog which were contributed by you, including images from New York by Tim Gambell, Berlin and Aarhus by Marko Foerstel, Redwood City by Phoebe Kuo, Chicago by Matt Maldre, and Point Loma by Genevieve Petre. Thank you all for continuing to share your plant observations with the project!

After the slide show, we danced our hearts out at the Lichtenberg Studios’ monthly dance party:

And on Sunday, after bottling the syrup I had made from elderflowers foraged in Lichtenberg, we said goodbye to the studio.

For the opportunity to work at Lichtenberg Studios, we would like to thank Uwe Jonas and Intervention Berlin e.V., the District of Lichtenberg and the City of Berlin. We really enjoyed getting to know the people and plants of the neighborhood!