pollinator pathmaker brings buzzing bees back to berlin with foliage-filled artworks

Pollinator Pathmaker and LAS art foundation

In 2023, Pollinator Pathmaker sprouted up in front of the Natural History Museum in Berlin, a project in commissioned in part by LAS art foundation, and has continued to bloom each year since it was planted. Full of asters, foliage, and insects, this work is an algorithmically optimized plot of local plants selected to bring pollinators back to the region. Developed by artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and originally commissioned for the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK, the project has continued to grow, with both large-scale plots at the Serpentine in London and ‘DIY editions’ that anyone can create.

‘They appear as a garden,’ says LAS art foundation curator Sophie Korschildgen, who was instrumental in bringing Pollinator Pathmaker to the green space in front of the Natural History Museum, ‘but Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is really consistent about calling them editions and artworks because she wants to take this assumption of value that we have when we speak about art—that it’s something to be preserved, that it speaks for our culture, all of these things—and apply it to nature.’ In conversation with designboom, Korschildgen and artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg  speak about bringing to life Pollinator Pathmaker’s first international commission, the evolution of the project, and its impact on wild bee populations.

Painting with a Plant Palette (online)

On the driving force for the project, Ginsberg points out that ‘Pollinator Pathmaker began with a question: what happens when we create an artwork for other species rather than ourselves?’ At pollinator.art, the website that hosts information about Pollinator Pathmaker, visitors are met with the question, ‘If pollinators designed gardens, what would humans see?’ Upon pressing the start button, you’re led to a digital garden plot. Through the menu labeled ‘Your garden,’ you can customize your location, the size of your garden, and other factors to generate an ‘artwork,’ which, as Ginsberg notes, utilizes ‘an algorithm to generate planting compositions that prioritize the needs of pollinating insects over human aesthetic preferences.’ 

The plants that appear in the artwork come from a ‘Plant Palette,’ a curated selection of local plants chosen to attract the most pollinators, chosen based on research conducted by Ginsberg and pollinator and horticultural experts familiar with the specified region. As new commissions of Pollinator Pathmaker arise, so do the region-specific plant palettes available on pollinator.art. In the years since its inception, Ginsberg points out that it ‘has developed into a long-term, distributed living artwork, with planting compositions realised across Europe, alongside commissioned works in the United States. The artworks have been planted by museums, community groups, members of the public and school children, while the project has also expanded into print, tapestry and video works.’

short documentary on Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg: Pollinator Pathmaker

The edition at the Natural History Museum

‘We came on to Pollinator Pathmaker very early in the process, before it was being planted for the Eden Project in Cornwall,’ says Korschildgen of LAS art foundation, the Berlin-based group dedicated to bringing installations and performances to life in dialogue with technology. ‘We were the first international commissioner and partner on the project. Then we also adapted it to Berlin, but more specifically to the continental biogeographic region, because the UK and Germany are different.’

LAS art foundation, a nomadic organization that brings presentations to different sites, such as Ateneo Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Venice and Kraftwerk in Berlin, partnered with the Natural History Museum in Berlin to bring this edition to life. ‘LAS has a research strand focusing on interspecies futures, originally set up together with the Natural History Museum in Berlin and other partners,’ remarks Korschildgen on the collaboration. ‘It’s a multi-year inquiry that had a symposium that produced a publication that is looking at human-nature relationships, but through technology. It asks the larger question: how can planetary computational technology be developed to benefit the natural world rather than extract from it?’

‘Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg’s project Pollinator Pathmaker was such a beautiful concept in that sense because it’s a global series of gardens that are designed by an algorithm (not an AI, that’s important) to benefit pollinating insects. The human role really changes in the setup because the human is the caretaker of this ecosystem.’

Watching the Berlin editions grow

This year, the project has reached a particularly momentous landmark: ‘we reached our goal of being in every district of Berlin with a small edition—there are 20 DIY editions across the city, and 21 editions including the one in front of the Natural History Museum.’ Since 2023, Berlin has come to life with these lush works and their accompanying pollinator species.

Reflecting on how the project evolves over the years and seasons, Korschildgen mentions that fall is her favorite time to see the edition outside the museum. ‘it’s my favorite time because if you were to go, you would see asters across the whole garden. It’s a type called ‘October Skies,’ which means it blooms lilac in October. Right now, in autumn, is the time when you see this almost algorithmic arrangement and formal strangeness of this artwork. It really catches your eye because there are these streaks of asters across this large plot.’

Human, non-human, and tomato agency

Although Pollinator Pathmaker relies on the natural world to take form, Korschildgen emphasizes that ‘The caretaking part is really deeply inscribed in the concept of this artwork, and it’s quite maintenance-heavy. Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg would say, ‘It’s artificial nature for nature,’ emphasizing how it’s an artificial arrangement. It’s not a garden, and it’s also not plants that would naturally grow with each other in this density under these conditions.’

Although the plot is closely maintained, it isn’t impervious to external factors, such as nature and unintentional human interventions. ‘It’s a place where a lot of people spend time because it has benches and it’s a museum that over a million people visit every year.’ Korschildgen mentions that even if a weed could benefit pollinators, the team still removes it to maintain the original planting plan. ‘Sometimes there are also little plants that just seed out that aren’t part of the original planning. And also, rogue tomatoes! For a couple of years, we had rogue tomato plants that were growing because perhaps people were eating their lunch and throwing the bad tomatoes into the artwork.’

Bringing back the bees

Not only is Pollinator Pathmaker a natural beauty and a thought-provoking installation, but researchers are also studying its effectiveness in bringing pollinators back to areas where humans have pushed them out. ‘There was a study at the Eden Project, and there’s also a study on the one that LAS planted in front of the Natural History Museum. Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg also won a UK research grant two years ago to study the project with the University of Exeter and the University of Edinburgh in a village in Cornwall,’ says Korschildgen, referring to the studies underway.

‘In Berlin, especially, we have a wild bee specialist who analyzes the different wild bee species that come to this garden… The average number in areas of the city that are called ‘pollinator-friendly’ is about 30 to 50 different wild bee species in one place. At the LAS edition last year, there were already 83 different species—quite a bit above the average! The study is looking at wild bees specifically because they are indicator species, meaning that when you can see that wild bees are doing well, then you can also tell that other pollinating populations are doing well.’

Seeing the impact of the project in these tangible data points is an affirmation of the core principles that drove Ginsberg to create the project: ‘By questioning whose needs shape the environments we create, Pollinator Pathmaker challenges the assumption that humans should always be at the center of how we design the world.’

project info:

name: pollinator pathmaker

edition: LAS Edition | @las_artfoundation

location: Museum für Naturkunde (Museum of Natural History), Berlin

artist: Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg

curators: Sophie Korschildgen and Carly Whitefield

dates: June 20, 2023–ongoing

This article is part of designboom’s POSTHUMAN UTOPIAS chapter, exploring what happens when humans are no longer the measure of all things. These stories rethink our relationship with the planet through interspecies architecture, living materials, regenerative landscapes and emerging technologies – learn more here! The chapter is presented in partnership with INDX|GLOBAL – a global cultural platform placing architecture, design, and creative intelligence in conversation with the world.

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