Environmental Performance Agency

What happens when I’m (andrea) not in Crown Heights in NYC but in Berlin and encounter the wild urban plants here in Berlin? Is there something else they have to tell me? I’m encounter in Berlin locations where in the past historical violence happened such as second world war and the Berlin wall. I have a kinesthetic movement score to find out what the plants have to tell me. I create name tags that describes my findings. I leave the name tags in the locations. Do I take through this naming the plant out of its European Classification? Can through embodied scientific practice we decolonize science. Is this encounter a philosophical approach? Does the plants gets out of its state of characteristic and into the state of philosophy? Does the plant has more agency by being in a philosophical state? How much history is embedded in the soil of a place and how much it reflects on the plant knowledge?

Kinesthetic Movement Score:

View Embodied Scientific Encounters in Berlin

An initial survey of some endangered anthropocenic surfaces and materials found in the EPA’s urban weeds garden.

key
A. orphaned asphalt
B. moon rocks
C. slime rocks
D. Frankies artifacts
E. land not sea glass
F. ancient ball bearing
G. urban geode
H. sacred chalk
I. confetti accumulators
J. “real” rocks
K. plastic nubbins

I’ve been starting to explore the shapes and silhouettes of plants found in the EPA urban weeds garden. What wisdom do these forms hold? Perhaps the shapes of future protest and vegetal resistance? (Chris)

Catherine and I, andrea finished to take care of the urban weeds island we call the Lucky Island on Block 1126 sidewalk by picking up the the trash to give air to the soil. In the end we had a big black plastic bag of trash. Across the street Steve, who has is car mechanic business for 10 years waves to us. He wants to fight to keep his place. He wants not to move. I observed the last 4 years many down the block building got sold and with selling the building the new landlords don’t want the mechanic businesses anymore. Such as in this neighborhood the urban spontaneous plants are not welcomed, the car mechanics are not welcomed. A business that uses the sidewalk is not desirable.

At the EPA we’ve been exploring different approaches to field science and ecology — embodied methodologies that include the sensual, the unseen, the metaphysical. In the videos above, the body is used a ruler – a unit and variable to measure the length of the garden. Catherine’s study resulted in 11.5 bodies (5’8”) or 65.17 feet; Chris’ study resulted in 11 bodies (6’0”) or 66 feet.

Today we explored a number of weedy islands that border nearby Franklin Avenue, and foraged for mugwort to make dream pillows. Luck Island was looking flush with life, although we are speculating about the soil quality along the southern edges which are high in sand, glass and have evidence of frequent compaction. We also began to explore in more detail an “enchanted wild garden” on the corner filled with milkweed, a jungle of everlasting pea (Lathyrus latifolius), flowering prickly lettuce, wild grasses, a variety of creeping vines, lambsquarter and other weedy friends. At the base of the southwestern edge of the fence is a small opening where a community of feral cats reside. A perfect hiding place amidst the city’s layers and rhythms.