Gabriela Oberkofler: Laboratory of a meadow orchard

Gabriela Oberkofler (born 1975, Bolzano/ITA) explores the fragile connections between ecosystems and social structures through planting projects in indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as through precise drawings, installations and objects. Her works also address the transformation of natural and cultural landscapes in a variety of ways. 
In 2022, the South Tyrolean artist founded an institute for alternative agriculture, contemporary art and ‘life on the periphery’ at the Taberhof in Flaas. This long-term, participatory and co-creative experimental platform brings together different actors in an equal dialogue on ecological and artistic questions about the present and the future. 

With the ‘Laboratory of an Orchard Meadow’ in Limbach-Oberfrohna, Oberkofler transfers the approaches developed in the periphery to urban public space. On an intervention area, forgotten crops from the artist's personal seed archive and historical apple varieties whose usefulness has been called into question by industrial agriculture thrive in raised beds. Her artistic practice conveys confidence in the possibility of reconciliation between humans and nature, between the past and the future – supported by a network of various participants, such as, in this case, pupils from the neighbouring Goethe Primary School in Limbach-Oberfrohna. Oberkofler's work invites us to act consciously, to reflect, to take practical care and, last but not least, to discover the beauty and changeability of plant life.

(Text: Alexander Ochs / Ulrike Pennewitz)