Natura Urbana
The Brachen of Berlin
Matthew Gandy
Germany | 2017 | 72’
In German with English subtitles
Curated by Milano Design Film Festival
The vegetation of Berlin is a silent reminder of its turbulent history. Post-war rubble landscapes and the wasteland of the former border between east and west Germany are home to an extraordinary variety of spontaneous vegetation that spread from all over the world. Long seen as blind spot in the city’s design, those empty spaces are used as “accidental laboratories” for cultural and scientific curiosity. In times of a speculative urban transformation those unique places are in danger to be lost forever. Natura Urbana uses the diversity of plants in Berlin to tell the city’s history, from the post-war period to today.