Serpentine Edition, Kensington Gardens, London, UK, 2022
Commissioned by Serpentine, the second Pollinator Pathmaker Edition was located in Kensington Gardens,planted along the 250m North Flower Walk.
Pollinator Pathmaker Serpentine Edition in Kensington Gardens. Installation view of one of 11 beds. Photo: Royston Hunt.
Five hundred square metres of planting is spread across eleven meandering beds, algorithmically computed as a single planting scheme to serve the greatest diversity of pollinator species. Planted in spring 2022, the garden opened in June 22, 2022, in conjunction with Serpentine’s Back to Earth exhibition as one of its offsite installations. It flourished for over two years, linking the park with its surrounding neighbourhoods as pollinators travel between the artwork and local gardens.
Planting the Pollinator Pathmaker Serpentine Edition in May 2022. North Flower Walk, Kensington Gardens. © 2022. Photo: readsreads.info.
As with each Pollinator Pathmaker Edition, the 62 plant species in this artwork were chosen and arranged by the algorithm to support pollinators from bees to wasps to moths and beetles, providing food and habitat throughout the year and across the changing seasons.
Digitally rendered plan of the Pollinator Pathmaker Serpentine Edition in mid-summer. The algorithmic patterning flows across the planting scheme, before it is split into eleven beds.
The Plant List
This boldly-coloured Pollinator Pathmaker Edition has a diffuse interlinked pattern spreading across the beds, with dramatic drifts framing softer areas of more intricate planting. Deep blue Clematis heracleifolia, loved by moths, contrasts with the fuschia Penstemon ‘Andenken an Friedrich Hahn’ which caters to long-tongued bumblebees, while the late-blooming lilac spires of the Liatris spicata, or button snakewort, are favoured by bees, butterflies, and moths.
Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum' flowers planted at the Pollinator Pathmaker Serpentine Edition. Photo: Royston Hunt.
A selection of the 62 plants from the plant list are shared below. Use the Plant Finder to see the painting of each plant and learn about its pollinators.
- Verbascum nigrum
- Teucrium hircanium
- Agastache 'Blackadder'
- Calamintha nepeta subsp. nepeta
- Campanula carpatica
- Thymus polytrichus subsp. Britannicus
- Helichrysum italicum
- Symphytum officinale
- Centaurea atropurpurea
- Penstemon 'Andenken an Friedrich Hahn'
- Phlomis russeliana
- Liatris spicata
- Angelica archangelica
- Primula veris
- Calamagrostis brachytricha
The Pollinator Pathmaker Serpentine Edition, photographed in August 2023. Photo: Royston Hunt
Acknowledgements
Artist's Team
Artist Dr Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg
Designer and Researcher Iman Datoo
Producer Cecilie Gravesen
Studio Manager Emily Sofaly
Serpentine
Curator, Exhibitions and Design Rebecca Lewin
Assistant Curator, Exhibitions Sarah Hamed
Gallery Manager Mike Gaughan
Installation and Production Manager Joel Bunn
Assistant Curator, Exhibitions Chris Bayley
Press Officer Laura Gosney
Philanthropy Executive Zohra Soorma
Development Project Manager Ella Fallows
Audience and Communities Manager Youssra Manlaykhaf
Content Producer Fiona Glen
The Royal Parks
Park Manager Andy Williams
Assistant Park Manager Theresa Short
Biodiversity Manager Peter Lawrence
Technical Officer for Kensington Gardens Russell Stevens
Contract Supervisor Richard Griggs
Horticulture Team Will Brown, Jordan Toms, Joseph O’Kelly, Dave Cooper, Manuel Sully, and Tony Figuiredo
Advisors and Partners
Horticultural Advisor Colin Skelly
Special Thanks Sharyn Wortman
Pollinator Pathmaker, Serpentine Edition, 2022. Commissioned by Eden Project and Serpentine with support from Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation and Google Arts & Culture.