Richard Frater
Fall, 2017–fortlaufend
Richard Frater, Fall, 2017–ongoing, photo: Frank Sperling
Rooftop of the main hall
Berlin-based artist Richard Frater has constructed a garden full of wild flowers, succulents, and endangered local plants on the rooftop of KW’s exhibition hall. Although visible from the exhibition spaces, the garden was never perceived as a part of the institution, it existed as a non-space within the institutional compound.
In the late summer of 2017, for example, the pale yellow view called to mind various biologically deserted images: a harvested crop; a sun-scorched meadow; an unoccupied allotment; and the non-spaces that line roads and railways. Surveying the content at this site revealed a more enlivened situation. A thickening of wild grasses, flowers, succulent varietals, wild carrots and onions, and other anomalies such as fruit trees and pines. All mingle in the thin soil bed.
The central task was to enhance biodiversity without introducing a nurturing scheme into the existing stabilized environment. Plants will be introduced over a three year period, responding to species that can independently establish themselves there.