HOrtus Kleinpolderplein Park
Hortus KleinpolderpleinPARK Punch
Kleinpolderplein is an elevated section of highways at the outskirts of Rotterdam, it is known for its traffic jams throughout rush hour. The highest part of the highway, the flyover, will be demolished in around 2022. At the initiative of the Observatorium work community, KleinpolderpleinPARK was brought to the public of the city, with the idea to get familiar with this cityscape becoming public domain.
In relation to the project KleinpolderpleinPARK, Moniek Driesse, Yvonne Beelen and Maidie van den Bos organised an event on the biodiversity and utility of urban plant life for the cultural festival Flaneren op de Flyover (Gallivanting on the Flyover), under the name HORTUS KleinpolderpleinPARK.
Although it might not seem like it at a first glance, Kleinpolderplein has a rich diversity in Botanics. More than a hundred different plants have found their biotope in the shoulders of the highway intersection.
Expressing a desire to give back the Kleinpolderplein to city life and nature, the team gave creeping and unwanted weeds a new narration departing from the qualities they present as alchemists and chemists of nature, experts in converting water, soil and sunlight in a broad assortment of special substances that are so complex that we could never imagine, let alone produce them.
Nature converts natural elements, but the plant-life we found is also an expert in cleaning the soil from the particles out of soot, transforming these in their roots and leaves into material that is composted throughout the seasons. As these plants activate their healing power in the harsh conditions for the local soil, they can also have the same cleansing action on the human body by lowering blood pressure, and by diuretic effect, rinse of a surplus of minerals and excessive salts.
Toasting to the diversity of the Kleinpolderpleinpark, we collected a healthy and tasteful selection of species, to forage outside of the concrete biotope for obvious health reasons, distilled into healing cocktails. We served the HORTUS KleinpolderpleinPARK Punch at the Thinkstation (Tankstation became Denkstation) at the bottom of the flyover, for about 2000 visitors on the day. On multiple occasions throughout the year, for example with the opening of the sculpture garden below the flyover and during Duizel in Het Park festival, we foraged for seasonal leaves, flowers, seeds and fruits, to make a recipe that is always local but ever-changing.