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250 boxes of sphagnum mosses for Venice

Pavilion on peat moss at the Biennale

3/3/2022 A pavilion with a peat moss installation is to be erected at this year's Venice Biennale. With the project named TURBA TOL - HOL HOL TOL the artist collective ENSAYOS and scientists from the Greifswald Mire Centre want to draw attention to the importance of peatlands for mankind. They are getting 250 boxes with the delicate plants underway. They will harvest the peat mosses by hand from 2nd-4th March on a cultivation and research area in the Hankhauser Moor in Lower Saxony. These will fill Chile's Biennale pavilion. There, especially in Patagonia, huge areas of previously intact raised bogs need to be protected from mining and infrastructure projects. Peat moss experts of Greifswald University and the peat plant Moorkultur Rahmsloh can provide these plants, which are strongly threatened and protected in natural habitats. Since 2004, both institutions have been conducting joint research on peat mosses. They installed an experimental area for the cultivation of peat mosses near Rastede in Lower Saxony, which today covers 17 ha. On Thursday and Friday 3rd-4th March, the scientists plan to harvest 250 boxes of peat mosses there together with the New York artist Christy Gast. A small art act to follow: The sphagnum mosses must arrive in Venice undamaged by 15th March! The Biennale itself begins on 23rd April and runs until 27th November this year. Half a million visitors are expected there. During this time, the mosses will live and grow as if in an artificial bog. A specially installed system will monitor and display the growth parameters of the peat moss carpet. It informs visitors on the carbon accumulated and the water needed. In order to acquire the necessary knowledge on peatland and climate issues for the installation of the pavilion, artist Gast is currently spending a residency in Greifswald. The city surrounded by peatland offers scientific expertise of the Greifswald Moor Centrum and, as the birthplace of Caspar David Friedrich, also a proud artistic heritage. The residency is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Municipal Office for Education, Culture and Sport of the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald.


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