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.