Mascha Fehse

For the second edition of ›Shifting Grounds – IN COMMON‹, artist Mascha Fehse has once again created two walk-through spatial installations made of modular elements, titled ›Recreational Successions‹. They serve as temporary meeting places, sources of shade, and shelters for the public on the grounds of the Zollverein slag heap.

The starting point for the work is the pioneer forest at the Zollverein Coal Mine, from which the installation borrows both space and material. As the first vegetation to emerge after raw material extraction, grasses grow here first, followed by shrubs, and finally trees such as birch, willow, black locust, and alder. They colonize barren soils and prepare them for subsequent species. An open framework of aluminum profiles and ropes supports willow domes covered with jute fabric, constructed from the material of undemanding, fast-growing plants that support one another and lean against a tree.

Formally, the work’s second succession builds on metabolist architecture, but goes beyond it in its conception: here, metabolism refers not only to a structural principle but to a concrete exchange between architecture and the environment. In ›Second Succession‹, communal spaces become part of ecological succession processes. Instead of self-contained structures, permeable structures emerge that develop in tandem with their surroundings.

The installation is open all day.

Materials: Willow, hazel, and black locust branches; birch branches; aluminum profiles; structural cable; wire rope; dyed jute fabric; hardware / fasteners

Team:

Willow production: Pau Holtkamp and Rabea Chatha

Textile production: Aimee Determann

Installation: Helene Rehahn