The Peutegrund

Mapping and valorizing a threatened portside biotope, August 2008 – February 2011

Against the backdrop of the mounting biological devastation of the port area, this funded project, part of the Art in Public Space programme by the Hamburg Cultural Authority, aims aims to highlight the biotopic value of a fallow area of land that has been defined both as a disused hazardous site and a port extension area through artistic means. Additionally, it aims to initiate its reassessment. The ten-hectare plot with a lake and diverse flora and fauna is situated in an area of primarily industrial and commercial use and is under the control of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA). After consulting biologists, Nana Petzet mapped out the Peutegrund and made a documentary about its animal and plant life. In 2008 in the frame of an art project, she thus saved the area from the rampant Japanese knotweed (elimination of invasive species). This attempt to symbolically rescue the biodiversity of the Peutegrund, also thanks to the political efforts of Bund Natur (BUND), ultimately led to a deviation from the practice to date and prompted the HPA to rethink. Consequently and as a compensatory measure for the destruction of other legally protected biotopes, the HPA agreed to sustainably eliminate the Japanese knotweed.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 As part of the exhibition Culture/Nature, Elbinselsommer`08, Nana Petzet carried out a campaign to clear the Japanese knotweed in Peutegrund. 11 12 In the neighboring boathouse at Peuter Elbdeich 21, the cut off knotweed sticks were processed and shown together with the documentation of the clearing campaign. 13 14 15 16 17 18 Model biotope Peutegrund in a solo presentation at the Kunsthaus Hamburg, 2011. 19 20 Between 2008 and 2011 extensive film material was created in Peutegrund.

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