Culture & Religion — January 11, 2016

Rotterdam Is about to Install a Floating Forest

Part art installation, part green design. Completely cool.

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You can always trust the Dutch to think up cool ways of sprucing up their public spaces.

The latest example comes from the city of Rotterdam, which has greenlit a project that will install 20 floating trees in its Rijnhaven downtown harbor basin this March. The installation, dubbed Dobberend Bos or “bobbing forest,” is the brainchild of the art collective Mothership, inspired by the work of sculptor Jorge Bakker. In the 1970s, Bakker created “In Search Of Habitus,” which featured miniature trees attached to buoys in an aquarium. Dobberend Bos seeks to recreate Bakker’s piece on a grander scale, all while sending a message centered on sustainability and green construction.

Rotterdam’s Rijnhaven, which sits within the Maas River, will host Dobberend Bosand other installations until 2018.

(Sources: Dobberend Bos / Inhabitat)

Photos: Mothership/Dobberend Bos)

Robert Montenegro is a writer and dramaturg who regularly contributes to Big Think and Crooked Scoreboard. He lives in Washington DC and is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Twitter: @Monteneggroll. Website: robertmontenegro.com.

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