Natalie Blom
Natalie is an architect, artist, and researcher based in Stockholm. Her work addresses contemporary socio-ecological challenges by examining concepts of co-existence and ”messy togetherness.” She is interested in design strategies that foster care and intimacy with local ecologies, extending these principles to strengthen human relationships.
She is a co-founder of Garden Loops, an international collective of architects and artists operating between Gothenburg and Stockholm. The collective’s practice investigates local ecologies and food systems through a more-than-human perspective. Garden Loops employs workshops as a platform for open, shared learning, aiming to establish collaborative networks and promote interdisciplinary dialogue.
Natalie holds a postmaster from the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm, where she participated in the program Of Public Interest (OPI) Lab 2023-2024.
natalie@be-bl.com
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03 The Ruderal Garden - Garden LoopsDOC 234—34/2
2024-05-14 - 2024-11-30
FärgfabrikenThe Ruderal Garden is a semi-wild, semi-cultivated landscape. It’s an artistic research project exploring the potential of ruderal plants – often seen as undesirable weeds – in strengthening ecosystems and decontaminating polluted cityscapes. The Ruderal Garden is run by Garden Loops – an art and architecture collective consisting of Alexandra Papademetriou, Mercè Torres, Natalie Blom and Poppy Bell in collaboration with Färgfabriken.
Ruderal plants inhabit environments usually considered inhospitable to human eyes – cracks in sidewalks, industrial sites, waste disposal areas – but are in fact rich and diverse ecosystems. In The Ruderal Garden, we explore the idea of the gardener as a multispecies actor (human, animal or plant) who cares for the Garden.
The project will take place at Färgfabriken, where we will build an exhibition garden which embeds our ideas and research on ruderal landscapes in public space. The garden will be built as a pilot project in 2024 and will evolve over the next two years. This garden will be open to the public and aims to engage and educate about ruderal landscapes.