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LAS Edition, Forecourt of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany, 2023

Pollinator Pathmaker’s first international Edition is commissioned by the LAS Art Foundation and is located outside the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (Berlin’s Museum of Natural History). Planted by many helpers in spring 2023, the LAS Edition features more than 7,000 plants of 80 varieties over a 722 square metre plot.

Pollinator Pathmaker LAS Edition in summer 2023. Photo: Frank Sperling. Courtesy of LAS Art Foundation.

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg: Pollinator Pathmaker LAS Edition, 2023, commissioned by LAS Art Foundation and realised in collaboration with Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. Courtesy of LAS Art Foundation and Johannes Förster.

As International Edition Founding Commissioners, LAS supported the creation of a new Plant Palette curated by the artist with an expert panel led by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. The LAS Edition uses this palette, which is filled with plants that will thrive in the hot summers and cold winters of Continental European gardens, including much of Germany, Poland, Austria, and beyond. 

Digitally rendered plan of the Pollinator Pathmaker LAS Edition in mid-summer. The algorithmic patterning curves around existing trees to form four distinct beds where major paths to the museum intersect.

Digital rendering of the Pollinator Pathmaker LAS Edition in mid-summer (detail).

Following the Pollinator Pathmaker ethos of empathy and collaboration, you can create your own DIY Edition here on pollinator.art using this new Continental Europe palette and join us in making the world’s largest climate-positive artwork.

Planting the Pollinator Pathmaker LAS Edition in spring 2023. Photo: Frank Sperling. Courtesy of LAS Art Foundation.

LAS are running a Pollinator Pathmaker campaign to plant DIY Editions in every district of Berlin. Green spaces in our cities are essential and with LAS, we invite communities, schools, and residents to help make more of these spaces by planting artworks for pollinators. Five DIY Editions were created in the spring of 2023, connecting the LAS Edition to a network of forage for insects across Berlin. Follow the progress of these living artworks on our DIY Edition page and send us photos of your own.

Digital rendering of the Pollinator Pathmaker LAS Edition in pollinator vision (detail).

The LAS Edition is supported by an exciting educational programme developed by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, encouraging everyone to get involved in biodiversity science. Together, we are championing learning about the needs of local pollinators, their essential role within our shared ecosystem, and what humans can do to help them.

An ornate tailed digger wasp (Cerceris sp.) on a yarrow (Achillea millefolium) spotted in Berlin. Photo: Frederic Griesbaum. Courtesy of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.

The Plant List

Some plants in the LAS Edition support a wide variety of insects, while others are specialists that attract specific species. For example, tube-shaped Salvia nemorosa flowers are loved by butterflies and are shaped to fit their long tongues. Different plants also flower in different seasons. Siberian squills (Scilla siberica) bloom in spring as the first honey bees emerge. In autumn, masterwort (Astrantia major subsp. involucrata) provides food for the last hoverflies of the year. The LAS Edition palette also contains a number of grasses that provide nesting places during the colder months. 

Digital rendering of the Pollinator Pathmaker LAS Edition, 2023 (detail)

The Pollinator Pathmaker Plant Palettes include native and non-native plants, using species that are locally appropriate. Read more about how we curate the palettes on our How it Works page.

Gathering plants for install of the Pollinator Pathmaker LAS Edition. Photo: Frank Sperling. Courtesy of LAS Art Foundation.

We made some substitutions from the planting scheme created by the algorithm due to availability. We look at each alternative to check if it supports the same pollinators and blooms at roughly the same time. Use the Plant Finder to see the artist’s painting of each plant and learn about each flower’s pollinators.

Digital rendering of the Pollinator Pathmaker LAS Edition in summer (detail).

Share your Pollinator Pathmaker moment with us on social media!

@pollinatorpathmaker @daisyginsberg
@las_artfoundation

#PollinatorPathmaker #LASArtFoundation #LASBerlin

Acknowledgements

Dr. Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg

Designer and Researcher Iman Datoo
Producer Ruby Dixon
Executive Producer Hannah Andrews
Studio Manager Freire Barnes

With special thanks to Cecilie Gravesen (Producer, 2020-2022) and Emily Sofaly (Studio Manager, 2021-2022)


LAS 

Director Dr Bettina Kames
Curators Sophie Korschildgen and Carly Whitefield
Project Manager Alexis Convento
Producer Harriet Collins
Head of Marketing and Communications Felix Thon 
Communication Manager Evelyn Nossol
Social Media Manager Veronica Jonsson

Special thanks to Amira Gad (Program Director, 2020-2022), Ruth Kissling (Curator, 2018-2022) and Elizabeth Stumpf (Assistant Curator, 2018-2023)


Museum für Naturkunde Berlin 

Director General Professor Johannes Vogel, Ph.D.
Project management Dr. Kim Mortega
Project management (parental leave cover) Yori Schultka
Project coordination Sylvia Hinz
Research Associate Frederic Griesbaum
Student assistant Louisa Ramke


Expert Panel

Christian Schmid-Egger (German Wildlife Foundation), Dr. Kim Mortega (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Sarah Darwin (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Julia Rostin (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Frederic Griesbaum (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin)


Horticultural Advice

Colin Skelly (Eden Project), Ellen Richter (Königliche Gartenakademie), Sebastian Keller-Lewis (Königliche Gartenakademie), Astrid Torrens (Königliche Gartenakademie)


Volunteers

Zoe Büchtemann, Moritz Weber, Emilia von Saldern, Sarah Davies, Kristina Leipold, Flinder Zuyderhoff-Gray, Jasna Kohnert Stavenhagen, Ulrich Brockmeyer, Mathilde Nettelbeck, Sanja Stanojev, Laura Friedrich, Sophie Ewert, Marius Oesterhel, Anna-Zoe Herr, Lynn Harles, Gabriella Pape, Peter Schröder, Bernhard Bräutigam, Lilly Wolter, Carla Eyferth, Manuel Wehrle, Felicia Moss, Sabina Quoll, Gregor Göbel-Pflug, Daniel Torres, Patrick Hugo, Joris Abert


Special Thanks to

Franz Hempel