A Seedling Place

“A Seedling Place” is an action that aspires to transform places and empower communities through collective actions of planting. The project will take place at the Venice Biennale and actions across the A-Place network. It is inspired by the installation Vertical Gardens which was realized in September 2020 in Kaimakli, Nicosia within the framework of A-Place. The action in Kaimakli proposed the insertion of a structure in the church square that responded to the new realities of social distancing and the need to redefine the role of public space in its capacity to connect communities.The structure acted as a trigger for a socially diverse neighbourhood to reimagine their public spaces, starting from the simple act of planting and tending a garden. The same idea continues with the installation presented at the Cyprus national Pavilion which acts as a scaffolding to a collective garden where visitors participate by planting, tending and growing seeds and cuttings. 

The project expands in a digital format called, #ASeedlingPlace*, which acts as a digital repository for a series of activities organised by Urban Gorillas and the extended A-Place partnership.  

A-Place partners are invited to participate in parallel actions related to the idea of community building through the act of planting. The digital repository, will take on the role of a collective garden, recording activities such as communal planting, guided walks with the topic of gardens, oral history recordings, guerrilla gardening actions, and the creation of artworks. This digital garden, just like the one in Venice, is perceived as an open process, acting as a framework triggering activities by communities and individuals.

Activities

“A Seedling Place” will present the installation within the Venice Biennale, but also initiate planting actions and a digital repository which will act as a framework for a series of actions to take place developing on the idea of planting, and gardening as a place for coming together both physically as well as virtually. These activities may include: 

- Events at the Venice Biennale 

An installation in the Cyprus Pavillion envisions an open process in constant progress, where visitors are invited to participate by planting seeds, transferring cuttings, tending and growing new plants in a collective garden. The structure acts as a scaffolding, a facilitator for co-creation while also extending its physicality by providing seeds for visitors and inviting them to plant elsewhere, expanding it in both space and time. 

- Workshops with students of the University of Cyprus.

Workshops focusing on the importance of planting as a way of nurturing sustainable urban entrepreneurs 

As part of the Urban Entrepreneurship workshop organised by Urban Gorillas at the University of Cyprus, two workshops will run with the thematic of Greening the city.  In this context, the workshops will explore the potential of generating sustainable cities through social entrepreneurship.  

- Mapping of community initiatives taking place in Europe and Japan 

A series of community planting activities are taking place within the partnership and our extended network. ” A Seedling Place” will collect, and highlight activities, creating a network of knowhow and organisations (the A-Place partnership, Multikulti, Gardens of the Future, 100,000 trees, local school organisations) 

- Events taking place in the A-Place partner cities 

Activities to be organized by A-Place partners in their respective locations, related to the theme of planting and seedling. 

- Transformation of an underused site through planting activities 

Planting activities will take place in order to transform underutilised public areas. These activities will openly invite community members for participation.  

- Open to the public lectures  

Lectures will be organised online and onsite where invited specialists will discuss planting and greening strategies in cities in connection to community building and the future of cities.  

Objectives

In accordance with the objectives of A-Place, the purpose of the planned activities will be: 

• To highlight creative placemaking practices which bring new insights to the local actors about the places they inhabit. The open call will act as a trigger for communities and individuals to envision new gardens and new opportunities for planting in their neighbourhood. It will create an open platform for creative engagement for community members to initiate and record acts of planting, but also document stories and information about plants and places. The collective process engages people, connects one to another and educates communities. 
• To create cross-disciplinary learning spaces. Community members become the important actors in their places as they will plant, tend but also enrich knowledge about plants in different forms: recording stories, producing installations and exchanges between participants.  Participants will also come in exchange in a digital space with other people undertaking similar actions.  
• To explore the role and exploit the potential of networked artistic practices by mapping works by various organisations and involving community members and artists on a larger global scale. 
• To exploit the capacities of digital technologies through the creation of a digital repository which will take the form of a digital garden.