↑ project thumbnails

Death of Worlds, 2021
time-based site-specific installation; geodesic dome/greenhouse, soil, 99 locally extinct plant species
6 x 12 x 20 m

Ruhr Ding: Klima; May 8 - June 27, Urbane Künste Ruhr, Ruhr, Germany.
Curator: Britta Peters.

On the site of the former General Blumenthal coal mine, New Zealand born artist Hayden Fowler (*1973) created a poetic reflection on the dramatic and often invisible loss of species from the natural world. An aseptic tunnel leads from the abandoned Weißkaue (the former changing room) of the colliery into a lost world. Within the nurturing atmosphere of a large bio-dome a flourishing landscape opens up, incubating the seeds of 99 plant species that have become extinct in the Ruhr region since the rise of the industrialisation in the late 1800's. From an immersive viewing platform, the audience can sit within this living memory-scape - a unique sensory experience. While, over the duration of the exhibition, the vegetation is constantly changing as the returned plant species germinate, grow and thrive, temporarily reclaiming an industrial site symbolic of their loss.

Media links:
Art Map
Urbane Künste Ruhr
WDR