A Forgotten Place

Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, 2024

A Forgotten Place is a commissioned public artwork inspired by observations of feral plant ecologies that largely go unnoticed yet thrive in tiny verdant patches across Al Quoz, the harsh industrial area of Dubai, which is home to Alserkal Avenue. Despite the severe and arid conditions of the industrial environment, remarkably varied plant-life—grasses, flowers, bushes, and trees—can be found thriving under and around air conditioning units on the outside of buildings. In an area with very little rainfall, these plants are growing and flourishing in unexpected places, fed by unintended lifelines of water condensate that drips from AC units operating non-stop, producing especially heavy flows of water in the hottest summer months. These nature and machine inter-dependencies—or AC ecologies—are flourishing not because of some anthropocentric masterplan, but rather, they represent nature’s ability to ferally adapt to industrialized landscapes.

A Forgotten Place is a public artwork that draws attention to these feral ecologies and thinks with them, to consider the potential of AC water as a precious and abundant, yet untapped, irrigation source in a water-scarce part of the world that must contend with expanding human populations and development. The work is in a throughway between two warehouses of Alserkal Avenue, an arts district that has become a heavily developed and largely human-centered space, over the years, with almost every square inch now utillized. The project seeks the hidden and the in-between, the sandy soil between and beneath the interlocking brick of a pedestrianized throughway. A network of transparent irrigation tubes collects water from AC units inside warehouses on either side and are suspended overhead. People will be welcome to walk inside the installation as   the network of pipes channels the otherwise wasted water to irrigate seeds found within the soil benath and between the bricks, and that will hopefully, over time, generate a place for feral plants to thrive and be recognized within the community. 

A Forgotten Place is an evolving examination of feral ecologies and a manifestation of what such rebellious plant ecologies can teach us. The work is also functional, utilizing the condensation runoff from AC units to support the growth of persistent plant species despite the seemingly hostile urban environment. Meanwhile, the reclamation of urban space highlights the interplay between feral ecologies and human development, providing valuable insight into the ways nature and modern society coexist and are actively adapting to one another.

A Forgotten Place will be supported by a program that examines the connection between storytelling and the natural world. On my first site-visit to Alserkal Avenue, I was told a story of a beloved tree growing in the centre of the cultural district, where the original part of the complex transitions to the newly built areas. Like other AC-ecologies, the tree wasn’t planned but rather serendipitously sprouted and thrived because it was fed by a steady-stream of water collected from an entire block of AC-units installed outside the older warehouses. With such a concentration of water, the tree has grown into a towering giant, in just a few years, providing much-needed shade for the community in an otherwise forgotten corner of the Avenue. And even though the tree’s roots are starting to undermine the foundations of the warehouse it stands in front of and are growing into the water and drain-pipes below, the community has rallied around it, to protect it, preventing it from being cut down. The program will also draw awareness and educates the public on the importance of promoting sustainable practices and nurturing native plant species in collaboration with scientists, environmentalists, and engineers who can speak to innovative approaches to preserving and nurturing the natural world amidst rapid human development and expansion.





A Forgotten Place serves as a vivid example of ecological stewardship and a renewed appreciation for the sacredness and mystery of our environment and urges us to reclaim agency over the narratives and outcomes that are shaping the role of nature in our world.