Garden Utopias – an immersive exhibition at the Palmengarten:

A journey through the future of the garden

What does the future hold for us? At Haus Rosenbrunn in Frankfurt’s Palmengarten, we didn’t simply answer this question – we brought it to life. Inspired by the Palmengarten’s current theme, ‘Garden of the Future’, four installations were created that surround visitors in a 360-degree experience: for ten minutes, they are immersed in futuristic landscapes that come to life from wall to wall with 360-degree animations.

The framework for this was provided by four sub-themes developed by AI: garden structures, gardening of the future, gardens as places of community, and the interaction between humans and plants. Together with Nils Kasiske (Studio Topie), Malte Knaack, Alex Wucherer, Susan Hassmann and Casiegraphics we developed these ideas further and transformed them into colourful illustrations. Chloé Dolic animated the moving elements, whilst Christoph von Chamier composed the sound.

What makes this project special is not just the result, but the way it came about: over the course of almost a year, in an interdisciplinary collaboration involving illustrators, a motion designer and a sound designer, each of whom brought their own unique voice to the project. This has resulted in four installations: four very different perspectives on a shared theme. And for us, this is precisely the essence of ‘Garten Utopien’: the future of the garden is not told in a single voice, but as a polyphonic whole.

The exhibition can be seen from 16 October to 7 February at Haus Rosenbrunn in Frankfurt’s Palmengarten.

A quick tip before you start: it’s best to watch the trailer with headphones on! The sound has been composed as 360-degree audio, and with headphones on, the 3D effect comes a fair bit closer, even on the screen.

The Lift Ride into the Future: Susan Hassmann & Malte Knaack

What would the garden of tomorrow feel like as you travel through it? Susan Hassmann and Malte Knaack have conceived their answer as a journey: a simulated lift ride through the levels of a future park landscape. The journey begins underwater, passes through a grotto-like plain, traverses a plain featuring buildings and a sphere, and ends high up in the atmosphere. And as the viewers travel ‘upwards’, so to speak, the seasons also change: leaves swirl about until, eventually, it snows.

What at first glance appears to be a single large panorama is in fact an interplay of two artistic styles. Susan has developed a panoramic view of the landscape that invites you to linger and explore. Malte has, quite literally, gone into detail: in striking close-ups, he moves through the ‘macrocosm’ and draws the eye to plants and animals that one would otherwise overlook.

In alternating panels, both illustrations are presented side by side. The viewer thus constantly shifts between a wide-angle view and a close-up, between landscape and structure. This creates a parallax effect that allows the viewer to experience the ascent spatially. Individual elements move across the strips: two drones that ‘tend’ to the plants across all the panels, and a large airship that connects the visual world horizontally. The strips do not simply stand side by side; they are interwoven.

Susan’s vision of the future is deliberately a positive one. “The media usually depict a dystopian future,” she says, “and that’s not the story I want to tell here.” Instead, she invites viewers to imagine themselves enjoying their time in this landscape: exploring the flora and fauna, discovering the industrious drones, and moving on with a sense of optimism for the future.

For Malte, extreme magnification was the central design element: “Viewers should first recognise the structures and then, based on movement or additional details, realise where they are.” He draws the eye to the vibrant details in the garden whilst simultaneously creating a spatial experience in which many things are happening around the viewer at once. And he readily admits: “It can’t do any harm if viewers feel a little small in the process.”

Small everyday stories in the garden panorama: Alex Wucherer

Whilst Susan and Malte recount their grand journey, Alex Wucherer focuses on the individual details. His installation centres on a sense of community, the connection between people and nature, a tranquil atmosphere and contemplation. Viewers follow individual stories within the garden panorama: each wall is assigned to a specific aspect of the theme of ‘community’ and displays scenes illustrating that aspect. The interplay between plants and people, and the little everyday stories, are meant to be discovered within them. What he aims to achieve sounds so simple yet is so difficult: harmony, inspiration and positivity.

What cannot be shown statically is achieved here through animation: light sources illuminate the scenes one after the other, bringing them to life.

Alex comes from the world of explanatory films, where the pace and density of information are usually much higher. When it comes to mood and atmosphere, however, it’s perfectly fine to take your time and savour the moment – perhaps the most important lesson the project has taught him. And he honestly admits what he underestimated along the way: the effort involved. Above all, the sheer number of details on such large walls and the colour grading for the animation, where “the technology has a say of its own when dealing with files 30k pixels wide and with three-digit numbers of layers”.

Robot monkeys and the sound of the violin: Nils Kasiske (Studio Topie)

Nils Kasiske didn’t really need to be all that visionary: he found his inspiration right there in the Palmengarten itself. Four scenes from the garden form the starting point, and he has interpreted the theme of garden maintenance in his own whimsical way. This fits, he feels, as the Palmengarten itself offers a wide variety of cultural activities. And so, in his work, little robot monkeys now dance ballet and breakdance for the opening, whilst a sad robot monkey plays the violin on a giant leaf.

He has quite deliberately opted for abundance: “I actually like every detail in it. As far as I’m concerned, there could have been much more, but at some point I had to draw the line.”

His motifs are a dreamlike glimpse of how beautiful a botanical garden could be in the future, even with AI and robotics. It’s not a thought that comes naturally to him: “I find it hard to look to the future with optimism, given climate issues, geopolitics and artificial intelligence.” That is precisely why his utopia is not a soulless technological vision, but a garden full of poetry, melancholy and wit.

When nature brings calm to a space: Casiegraphics

Casiegraphics’ installation begins where many of us find ourselves every day: in the midst of stress and hustle and bustle. With a smartwatch on our wrist, AI glasses on our nose, constantly exposed to digital input and driven by the demands of everyday life. Fascinated by the powerful influence that plants and nature have on our well-being, she has made precisely this effect visible through her interpretation of ‘Garden Utopias’: a space in which restlessness gradually gives way to tranquillity and positive energy.

Her most important creative tool here is the space itself. The animation moves from one side to the other, so that visitors are constantly having to turn round and follow the movement – the entire space becomes part of the experience. The dramaturgy also follows the original idea: the animation starts off somewhat restless and becomes increasingly calm and relaxed over time. This creates a visual experience that conveys how nature can help to reduce stress, recharge our batteries and find inner peace.

And what she wishes to convey through this is not a warning, but an invitation. Visitors are encouraged to experience just how positive and healing plants and nature can be for our well-being.

Bringing the installations to life: Chloé Dolic

Chloé Dolic created the animations for almost everything that moves within the installations: the submarine and the waterfalls in Susan’s Panorama, the drones buzzing across all the panels, and the light sources that illuminate the scenes one after the other in Alex’s installation. She turns the illustrations into something you can’t take in at a single glance – you have to turn round, look around and discover them.

One thing was particularly important to her: giving each illustration its own rhythm and flow, so that every story feels alive and sparks curiosity. And she has literally taken visitors by the hand: the illustrations guide them through the space, with the movement setting the direction. Incidentally, this meant that smaller areas remained filled with life whilst other parts of the illustration remained in motion – so there’s always something new to discover, no matter where you look.

What she learnt from the project sounds like genuine hands-on experience: no matter how much you plan, the technology sometimes has a mind of its own. And as far as motion design is concerned, she believes it thrives on the idea and its execution, but just as much on music and sound. It is this interplay that creates the magical moment in the immersive space – which is why working closely with Christoph is one of the best parts of the project for her.

However, the fact that all of this ultimately resulted in such a magnificent spatial experience is not down solely to the ideas and the art: it was the professional, technical implementation of the project on site by Satis&Fy that brought it to life.

Sound Design: Christoph von Chamier

The sound design for Garten Utopien was created by Christoph von Chamier. He composed a unique piece of music for each segment and developed the accompanying sound design using sounds and atmospheric elements. It was important to him not to view the four sections as individual films, but as a single, cohesive project: the sound is also intended to help ensure that, in the end, the whole thing feels like a single film.

To achieve this, the technology goes far beyond ordinary sound recording. Viewers stand in the room, surrounded by four video screens, each covering one wall – and enveloped by a surround sound system: 6.1.1, comprising six speakers at ear level, one ceiling-mounted speaker and a subwoofer. This creates a genuine 3D effect: for example, you hear the sounds of the praying mantises’ battle coming precisely from the direction in which they are taking place, and synthesiser sequences move in a circular pattern around the room. Because the audience move freely around the room and are not – as in a cinema – seated in a fixed position, this was not a conventional surround mix. Instead, Christoph worked with Dolby Atmos, which allows virtual audio objects to move through the space in addition to the traditional surround channels.

And there is another fundamental difference between image and sound: the image is confined to the screen, whereas sound is not. Surround sound, reverberation and directional sounds create a 360-degree space. We know that the airship is approaching from the rear left even before we see it.

Everything under one roof: Kombinatrotweiss

For several months, five illustrators, a motion designer and a sound designer have been working in close collaboration. What makes this project special is that illustration, animation and sound were never simply pieced together. Chloé’s movements transformed Susan’s panorama into a landscape that draws you in, whilst Christoph’s sound gave Nils’s little robot monkey a soul. Each discipline has transformed the others – and that is precisely the appeal of interdisciplinarity: in the end, something emerges that none of the disciplines could have conceived of on its own.

For this to succeed, it takes more than just talented individuals. It requires a place where all disciplines come together before the first pixel is moved: during the selection of artists, in video calls, when brainstorming ideas, but also in day-to-day operations, when it suddenly becomes clear what is actually technically possible with a 30,000-pixel file and a 6.1.1 sound system. With us, all these services come together under one roof. Illustration, motion design, sound design and project management: this is why a complete work of art emerges, rather than four beautiful pieces side by side.

We’ll be honest: we’re absolutely delighted with this project. It’s been with us for many months, and on the evening of the exhibition opening, we found ourselves right in the middle of it all – between the four visual worlds, surrounded by Christoph’s sound – and knew: this is exactly why we do what we do.