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Plantot
Barcelona-based Joystick create projects that focus on the relationship between us, as urban dwellers, and plants. They promote the usage of plants in public and private space "to get the public closer to small-scale urban agriculture as a way of reclaiming public space by the people who live it". Their new project, Plantot, is about the awareness and analysis of urban vegetation. It was selected iby the Centro Cívico Can Felipa to be developed during 2007. "We propose a research, that will be fomalised in a publication (printed and online), that invites citizens to look at trees planted in public spaces in a new way. We want to detect which trees are fruit-bearing, and when is their harvest season, to generate a map-calendar to invite people who use public space to make the most of these fruits that normally go to waste".
In addition to making plants and their cycles visible, we propose to plant, using a "parasitic" approach, aromatic herbs and spices in small areas apt for urban agriculture.
Our intention is not to provide for the basic consumption needs of the people, instead, Plantot proposes an alternative approach at understanding the flora of the city and the collaborative work between citizens and organisations.
This project is in constant development, the path it can take depends on the ongoing results we are obtaining during our research process. Insights and documentation of the progress will be published in this section of our website.
PLANTOT EN GRAC!
For Grac! 2006 (Gràcia art al carrer), a festival centred on art in public space organised by Saladestar, we presented a pilot experimental version of Plantot, in which we focused on an specific plant, basil (Ocium basilicum). We planted crops using a parasitic method [6] in the public gardens of the Gràcia Quarter, performing a daily check on the crop's status after transplantation to assess whether or not the it could survive in public space.
Later on, we planted a slightly bigger crop in the garden of Plaça de Manuel Torrente in Alzina street. In this occasion, we added a bit of humusat the time of planting some sprouts of basil. The crop was signaled with a small poster containing information about the project.
On Sunday, November 5th, we invited the neighbors to a dinner party in Plaça del Diamant. In the dinner, we offered pesto made with the basil planted in the neighbourhood.
During this experimentation process we made a video tutorial on how to make a basil seedbed and how to transplant it to public space. Additionally, we have designed a manual focused on how to grow basil under climatic conditions similar to those of Barcelona, nevertheless the information can be applied to any place.
Links
About the authors
Joystick + Jeanette Ramirez (Colombia)
http://www.jstk.org
Posted by alex at January 24, 2007 11:38 PM
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