EVENT + PROJECT // ART EXHIBITION // // 26th-31st January 2024 // DHAKA// BRITTO ARTS TRUST

After our one-month-long stay at Britto, we felt the need to communicate the works of our residency in a showcase at Britto Space. A lot had happened: much work had gone into the public community garden in Hasnabad, meeting the neighborhood every day, and also noticing the social changes beside the physical transformation of the place. In our exhibit, we focused on talking about these notions of change around the garden within the capital of Bangladesh – the city under construction. When discussing our concept, we stitched together our experiences chronologically. Thus, the first piece created was the contrast installation of the plastic trash from the ground, stuffed into the clean exhibition shelves and framing a drone photograph from the finished and cleaned garden space. Additionally, to the trash, we also collected the ropes we found in the grass and knitted them into a heavy web. They were used for cows, since some time ago this place was used for festivities. They reflected that the spot we chose for the community garden was already a space for get-togethers (nowadays primarily used and owned by the youth). With these two big installations fixed, we concentrated on the moments we experienced while working together. All the processes are documented in a film, screened in the back and also in a photo story focusing on the work steps the local kids did to finally own the garden themselves. They dug up the soil, planted the flowers and vegetables, and collected the plastic waste. On the other hand, the relationship with the adults and their care about the project had a different flow and connection, which we interpreted in a banner text. To bring the garden work into the exhibition physically, the materials and some plants and seeds were showcased. These were the tools to create a community garden. But to really establish the space as a place owned by everyone, the collective work and the social interactions constituted the key elements.

COMMUNITY GARDEN

Again we have such a joyful football match with the kids. Messi, Neymar, Özil, Musiala all around. Then the neighbors we made friends with introduce us to an old man sitting on the bench beside the gourd bed. We are invited for tea, so followed by kids we climb up the stairs. His family lives in the area in 4th generation. From the balcony you can overview Buriganga and the garden. Gentle hospitable family serving tea and cookies. A baby cat is exploring the room step by step. 

We talk.
About the history of this place. After the river bank was heaped up some years before, there was a sand depot, as omnipresent in the „city under construction“.
We talk.
About the garden. About what changed.
When we started, our host says, he has been skeptical. Somebody tried a garden here before, but plants got stolen and it failed in dust and garbage. He was sure our action would face the same doom from the very beginning. So he tried to protect it by keeping out the chaotic children, even suggesting to watch over it at night.
We went another direction. We just started working, open for everyone to join in. The kids were enthusiastic doing the job step by step and steadily: collecting the waste, helping to fix the beds, digging and pouring soil, and each of them planted a flower, calling it their own.
Along the way the local community was watching the whole process, giving us amazement, smiles and thumbs-ups and engaging by offering tea, tools, water and helping the kids and us.
Nothing is stolen because it belongs to everyone.
Now our host goes there every day – enjoying the garden – like everybody can.
The kids roam around in it.
At night people hang out there. They don’t destroy it.
It is protected by everyone.
Our little community garden. 

We were thrilled to explore these topics with this showcase coordinated by MD. Khairul Alam Shada and Kazi Sydul Karim Tuso and all the Britto members that helped us out. It was important to all of us to fill this short exhibit with life, to create a conversation about the urbanization of Dhaka and the agenda of CONNECTING ECOSYSTEMS. So, we invited on several occasions. First, while installing, architects and urban planners working in Dhaka visited us for an open discussion about the situation of Dhaka, its frighteningly fast changing faces, and the possibilities of gardening interventions within the metropolis.

Secondly, we were excited to share a performance on the opening day, shaping the exhibition space again during the action.

ARCHITECTS TALK

OPENING PERFORMANCE

COMMUNITY GARDEN FILM

Lastly, on the closing day, the public was invited again, to walk together through the exhibit and have an open talk about each work and the process behind it. It was interesting to meet all the perspectives on the topics and to exchange experiences within the field of permaculture and community gardening.

Thank you, Britto Arts Trust, for hosting and supporting us with so much care and friendship!

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