LIVING SCULPTURES
Gardens play an increasingly important role in nature conservation, as they reach a wide range of people and can thus spark interest in ecological issues. Nevertheless, many prestigious garden projects lack ecologically valuable elements such as deadwood, stone piles, or nesting habitats—often because they are considered aesthetically unappealing.
Although art is often inspired by nature, it rarely serves the explicit purpose of actively promoting nature. This is a missed opportunity to connect nature and art both in terms of content and structure and to bring them into the public sphere.
With “Living Sculptures,” we bring artists and biodiversity researchers together in a creative exchange to jointly design innovative sculptural elements for natural gardening that are both ecologically and aesthetically valuable. The finished works will be presented at the Leipzig Botanical Garden as part of the Long Night of Science on June 20, 2025, and will remain open to the public until the end of October 2025.
The documentary portrays and accompanies the project participants and artists from the first project workshop to the exhibition opening on the Long Night of Science in June 2025. Videographer and director: Damian Trapp
The project was carried out in cooperation with the Förderkreis des Botanischen Gartens e. V. Other project partners include the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Universität Leipzig, and Manufactur e.V.
The project is supported by the Cultural Office of the City of Leipzig, the Leipzig Foundation, the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, and the Förderkreis des Botanischen Gartens e.V.