atelier le balto, a Berlin-based landscape architecture office, has advocated a special approach to open spaces and landscapes since 2001. The RESPIRATION exhibition at the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) provides insights into 25 years of creative landscape design. It shows how urban wastelands, temporary installations and long-term gardening projects evolve in interplay with nature, architecture and human movement.

In December 2024, atelier le balto began its transformation of the Kunstgewerbemuseum’s outdoor courtyard. Visitors are invited to observe these changes over a 12-month period ‒ viewed from the staircase at the museum entrance, inside the museum or directly in the garden (later this year).

The exhibition, which opens in February in the space adjacent to the outdoor courtyard, focuses on the process. RESPIRATION could be the title of a choreography. Gardening is, in fact, closely linked to movement, but the plants are the main characters here. A garden is never a static work; it grows, changes and interacts with its environment.

This is apparent in the photographs, sketches and plans on display, as well as in the direct redesign of the museum courtyard at the Kulturforum. Here, atelier le balto is creating a living example of its work: trees, soil, light and shadow form a new composition, which, with time, begins to breathe. The plants grow and people move through the space – the garden comes alive and engages with the museum landscape.

Like Sleeping Beauty, a Garden Awakes from a Deep Slumber

The Kunstgewerbemuseum’s outdoor courtyard was inaccessible for a long time and, with the years, had become overgrown. Now, this forgotten place is being revived. atelier le balto’s transformation of the space brings new life, structures and possibilities for interaction.

Throughout the project, the garden will evolve from merely a visual, aesthetic experience into a tangible part of the museum. Public access – at least to certain areas – will open in summer 2025, making the space available as a site of tranquillity and reflection.

Snapshot Views of Gardens vs. Continuous Change

A garden undergoes constant change. Photographs and sketches capture fleeting moments – images of conditions that will never return. The show reflects on this aspect by exhibiting memories of gardens that the atelier le balto designed, built and maintained over decades. However, the focus is not on individual projects but rather on the central elements of the gardens: trees, shadows, the ground, materials and construction. Individual locations fuse into one great work, a coherent landscape.

At the same time, the exhibition explores the hands-on process of gardening, from planning to planting to care. In addition to sketches and photographs, the exhibition includes tools, materials and techniques, bringing the gardening experience to life as an artistic and creative activity.

A special exhibition of the Kunstgewerbemuseum – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin