Trafostation

2016, ul. Na Niskich Łąkach 2a, Wrocław, Poland

Trafostation is an attempt to re-naturalize the ecosystem at Niskie Łąki in Wrocław, Poland.
A defunct transformer station building from 1930 becomes a scaffold for a living sculpture initiated by running a biological 'machine' of vegetation.

The modernist architecture will be covered by various species of plant, and water flows from three windows, recalling the 1997 flood that devastated Wrocław. Direct human intervention for this small habitat involved planting ferns, ivy, geraniums, mosses, euonymus and seeding ruderal plants. Trafostation is created for a future when non-human organisms will take possession of the building completely and turn it into a new habitat.
 

                                                     Trafostation in late November 2016, after the water flow was turned off for winter.

Water and plants are understood as agents and the driving force of the project, hence the form and future of the project is up to them. The vegetation cycle will be a spectacle of non-human forces playing out on a stage created by architecture. And, although the performance is intended for humans, the actors of Trafostation
are the organisms resident in the ecosystem. Trafostation is therefore a gesture of offering the human phenomena of architecture to other species.



Trafostation, as a public project, is an independent entity. In every way, it has a life of its own. While not site-specific (as it can be initiated in almost any location), it can be fully experienced only in situ, where it works. The humans, including the artist, are merely spectators of this biological machine. Set in motion in 2016, it will most likely mature, in terms of plant growth and degree of erosion of the building, in about 50 years. It is intended, literally, as a futuristic project, open ended and never finished.

In the meantime, the many strands of the "Trafostation" narrative can be told and experienced using a multi-channel video and media installation.
This project is a part of the 'Wrocław – Backyard Door' visual arts programme in the frame of the European Cultural Capital Wrocław 2016

Project production:
Architectural cooperation - Paweł Karpa
Structural engineer - Mateusz Bilski
Horticultural consultant - dr inż. Marta Weber-Siwirska, Magdalena Zelek, Jagoda Podgórska (SKN AK sekcja Ambasadorzy Zieleni) Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy we Wrocławiu
Production - Marta Krasnopiórko, Patryk Szelawa / Technika w ogrodzie
Cooperation: Anna Pluta, Krystian Pryłowski, Aleksandra Jach
Coordinators, Festival Office Impart 2016:
Natalia Romaszkan, Maciej Tymorek, Bartosz Zubik, Kaja Górska

Special thanks to Zarząd Zieleni Miejskiej in Wrocław for help in project implementation and the Polish Association " Dachy Zielone ", which covered the project patronage.