How to increase vegetation in an urban environment full of interesting architecture and water, but where little space is left for anything else? The Dutch artist Jorge Bakker found the solution with his Bobbing Forest project.
During this project different people and organizations – including the art collective Mothership – collaborated and experimented, to see how a tree could grow and root in a buoy floating in the water. An interesting venture, as the experiments showed that not every tree can survive in such a limited environment. So far only the Dutch Elm seems to be able to survive in such difficult circumstances.
The result of the project – also called ‘Het Dobberend Bos’ in Dutch – can be admired in Rotterdam’s Rijnhaven (Kop van Zuid) since March this year. Here about twenty trees are bobbing in the little harbour. While the trees are still fairly small, we are curious to see how they grow with time!