BOTANICAL ISLAND

Living-lab
Greater Blue Mountains, Australia

Located on the limits of Wollemi National Park, in the UNESCO`s World Heritage listed Greater Blue Mountains, the site-specific intervention proposes a -living lab- through a conductive thread across different cartographies. Along a circuit path the intervention delimits and scopes a fragment of a forest, as a botanical island with significant biodiversity that contains multiple layers of endemic landscapes offering the sensory experience of touching, smelling, observing, walking and listening. The site-specific intervention is a symbolic delimitation of a portion of a pristine forest and the enhancement of its biodiversity. Native plant species, endemic fauna and a low-impact pathway weave together botany and perceptual experience. The project proposes dialogues between sensory and scientific approach and community`s knowledge dissemination.

Research-Lab & dissemination: With the intention of increasing the landscape awareness, the project applies interdisciplinary methods of site-approaching and didactic processes. The intervention was complemented with the Research-lab, a parallel exhibition space for knowledge, participation and dissemination where the experiential site work is displayed: sensory maps, drawings, cartographies, videos, sound recordings, sketches, photographs, models, as well as the interactive herbarium.

Vegetation process: The project has been conceived as a series of ephemeral interventions -tracing, mapping, plant identification and community walk-, emphasizing the natural process of vegetation, and encouraging nature to continue with its own spontaneous growth, by erasing the trace left by human activity and performing over again its own dynamics

Interactive Herbarium: With the aim to collect, identify and disseminate the different species that shape the -Botanical Island- , the herbarium is displayed as a framework in which the local community can participate and interact, sharing their own knowledge about the plants identified in the site -uses, applications, relationships, cultural meanings or personal stories-. Among the flora living in this forest fragment are several varieties of eucalyptus and angophoras, associated with a variety of cedars, acacias, turpentines, ferns, grasses, mosses, shrubs and wildflowers.

Credits:
x-studio : : Ivan Juarez
with the support of Bilpin international ground for Creative initiatives (BigCi)
BigCi Environmental Award 2018
Special thanks to Rae Bolotin and Yuri Bolotin
flora identification: Prue Gargano