Haven. Commissioned by Southbank Centre, Curated by Cedar Lewisohn with Mark Healy.
21 Jun 2023 – 30 Sep 2027
An artist-created pocket garden transforms one of Southbank Centre’s concrete spaces into a wildflower-rich sanctuary for bees, butterflies and other insects.
As part of Southbank Centre’s summer programme we worked with with garden designer Maeve Polkinhorn to create a collaborative work called Haven on a balcony of the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
The work formed part of a programme of events at Southbank Centre called Planet Summer.
This season of climate care, hope and activism takes its inspiration from Southbank Centre’s pioneering Hayward Gallery exhibition, Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis a group show itself inspired by artist Otobong Nkanga’s suggestion that ‘caring is a form of resistance’. Planet Summer inspires a call for action that all of us, making change together, can address the challenges of the climate crisis.
Haven demonstrates that even small pockets of urban space can be used to provide vital support for wildlife. We have used plants that are native British wildflowers that have been carefully selected to attract bees, butterflies and other insects.
The planting is punctuated by wildlife pods that can house nesting birds, drawn and hand-carved in sustainably sourced oak by us. The form of the pods are inspired by the ridged and textured beauty of wildflower seedheads. Each pod contains space for birds to nest or perch and for creatures to shelter. When colonised, the sculptures will become vessels for new life; cradles of growth and new beginnings, just like the seedheads they are modelled on.
When Haven’s residency comes to an end at the Southbank Centre, its substrate of wood and soil will be repurposed. Plants will be offered to local community gardens and one of the oak wildlife pods will be moved to a new home in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden.
The work is commissioned by Southbank Centre with support in kind from Wildflower Turf Ltd and is curated by Cedar Lewisohn with Mark Healy.
Photography by Éva Németh
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