Welcome to our milpa*
Our milpa consists of flying potatoes, edible flowers, climbing pumpkins, hanging watermelons and different kinds of coloured beans, among others. We travelled here from various Mayan milpas in Southern Mexico – where we had been for centuries, but now we are on different grounds… they call it Berlin. In our ecosystem, resources (water, light, soil) are used in a complementary way, and all participants benefit from each other's presence. We were brought here to slowly weave onto a temporary installation that will become our parliament.
Here, we get together, humans and non-humans, to grow, to connect, to create something new. A place built by feelings, cosmovision, social relations, biodiversity and knowledge. Here, we dream of new realities.
"The Vegetable Parliament" is a public art project in the garden of silent green that explores the milpa as a metaphor for an imaginary more-than-human societal model. At its core is a living inhabitable installation; a speculative parliament for utopian visions and possible futures of local socio-/ecosystems. As it evolves throughout the seasons, each visitor and each activation becomes an intricate part of the milpa.
Visit us, become a part of us.. We invite you to think differently, to leave any preconceived ideas of the possible behind. To play seriously, or as children play – when we play, we believe it.
* an ancient Mayan agrarian practice, a field for growing food crops used throughout Mesoamerica
"The Vegetable Parliament" is funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds.