Blog  November 3, 2011

Means of Production and Public Spaces

Just as the summer started to wind down, Oliver Kellhammer joined us on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the MOPPARC garden.

Oliver is a prolific artist, permaculture teacher, activist, writer and the founder of the Means of Production project. He developed the concept in 2003, to fill a void he saw in public green spaces.

Natural Fibre Art in the garden. (Photo: L. Weidenhammer)

“So much of our park acreage in the city is sports related,” Oliver says. “We need more public green spaces for other uses—open-source landscapes that are designed by people as they use them.” He views these spaces as experiments that are never quite finished, referring to them as "hybrid ecology" or "un-planning.". In other words, less landscaping and more organic development of public green spaces.

The Means of Production garden is one such space, one that evolves with the needs of its users. It was developed, says Oliver, with the idea that we can build environments that help us to meet our needs: “Imagine a city that is actually capable of growing its own food, medicines, even firewood.”

The garden is a place for food production and raw materials production—materials used by a number of artists in the MOP Artists Collective. For example, willow trees are charred for sketching coal and stripped for weaving, while paulownia trees are used to carve woodwind instruments.

The end goal of these productive spaces, Oliver stresses, is to create a sense of place, to get people to care for their environments and their communities.

Flowers in the MOP garden. (Photo: L. Weidenhammer)