CULTURE GARDEN is an interactive electronic organism: a digital garden that shapes, tends, and preserves itself, yet does not “forget” its analog origins—but rather documents and reflects upon its own creation and transformation. It consists of live images shaped by natural processes. With its minimalist aesthetic, the installation evokes a garden situated above the film archive, growing out of it both topologically and symbolically.
CULTURE GARDEN offers a compelling visual experience, whether viewed from the foyer or from the various offices located above. It invites visitors to stroll among 120 subtly shifting image displays, which also serve as seating for brief moments of relaxation and reflection. Thus, CULTURE GARDEN becomes a space reflecting the creation, transformation, preservation, and decay of both culture and nature—a space constantly reshaped by people through their very presence.
Elements and Materials
A video microscope stands in the building’s foyer. Positioned beneath it is a strip of negative film stock (an exposed, blank negative) colonized by microorganisms. These diverse microbial cultures gradually erode the negative layer by layer, secreting pigments as byproducts of their metabolic processes. The development process can be calibrated to span a long timeframe (e.g., 50 years) as desired. The progression of this process can be influenced by the specific composition of the cultures inhabiting the negative.
The resulting image data is transmitted to a computer and then sent via a processor to 132 LED panels (40 x 40 cm). These LED panels are integrated into black metal cubes behind safety glass. Twelve cubes guide visitors to the building’s entrance, while another 120 cubes are positioned in the inner courtyard above the film archive.
The courtyard flooring consists of a water-bound surface topped with basalt grit, creating a uniform base from which the individual elements of the media sculpture appear to “grow.” The LED panels are a straightforward, high-end outdoor product; offering 80% lower energy consumption and exceptional durability, they are highly eco-friendly and consumer-friendly.
Interaction
A complex software program, created specifically for this installation, runs on the computer in the foyer. It generates a grid of 132 segments, reminiscent of a map grid. Users can explore and shift this topography via a touchscreen in the foyer (located next to the video microscope) or through a dedicated website. These actions alter and move the live images displayed on the outdoor LED panels.
Archive
A central archive is being created that expands on a daily basis. Newly generated image data is automatically saved once a day, thereby documenting the ongoing “process of the negative’s dissolution” through digital imaging technology. This process can be viewed via a timeline on the website and touchscreen, which also updates automatically every day. Additionally, users can watch a time-lapse film of the process on the website and touchscreen.
Integrated Environment
The Federal Archives complex, arranged around an inner courtyard, is unified by a comprehensive design concept that reflects the institution’s multifaceted functions. CULTURE GARDEN interprets the archive itself as a “place of experience” *par excellence*; architecturally situated at the “heart” of the complex, it offers both staff and visitors a sensory-rich insight into the archive’s efficacy. Thus, CULTURE GARDEN art installation serves as an instrument—or seismograph—that can be experienced visually, haptically, and kinesthetically, allowing the “nature of culture” to be perceived and sensed through the “culture of nature.”
The LED cubes (40 x 40 cm) in the courtyard (40 x 40 m) are arranged in a square grid defined by the building’s architecture: the grid coordinates align with the spacing of the load-bearing columns in the foyer. The comparable technology, materials, and dimensions, as well as their functionality, have already been tested in public spaces; they have proven to be resilient and versatile, even under the most adverse weather conditions.
(Sabine Kacunko, 2009)
