A Name for the Tree (2019 — in progress)
The project was inspired by plant life within a city. During the residency, she was intrigued by the architectural and horticultural design of the
Wohnpark Alterlaa residential complex in Vienna.
Due to the general growth of urban populations and scarcity of the city space, nowadays, few
people can afford to have their own gardens and trees. The possibility to grow vegetables and
fruits is becoming a question of wealth and status. The artist takes particular interest in the
situation of coexistence of nature, modernist architecture, and the living community. She
imagines the synergy of these three elements and comes into direct contact with the residents
in order to observe the emotional connections between people and their plants. Wohnpark
Alterlaa was built between 1973 and 1985 as a social housing complex for affordable living with
a high level of comfort and quality infrastructure. It consists of six monumental, high-rise
buildings in which the apartments of the lower twelve levels have large plant troughs that serve
as small gardens. This kind of balconies are representational — the residents can show off their
gardening skills while enjoying their privacy, shielded from the outside gaze. Moreover, there is something very intimate and gentle in the relationship between the plants and their owners. One
is domesticating nature, while the other is naturalizing a domestic environment. Ultimately, the
artist is interested in finding out if a simple tree can become an heirloom or even a family
member? Or is the collective humanity already irreversibly detached from other forms of life?
Text by Eva Kovac