Description: Silke Wagner (1968) is invited to realize her project with the title Migration and Plant in public spaces around Heilbronn. Heilbronn is home to an above average number of people with a migration background. Their share of the population is 50%. For her project, Wagner researched plants from the various countries of origin and then combined this information with migration statistics. She intends to have colored foils installed at the railway shelters along the axis train station. Additional explanations and illustrations on the topic of migration are available via an app, as well as flyers. This book documents all foils, as well as the accompanying materials, and also includes deepening contributions.
Review Quotes: This simple and positive insight is one of the outstanding qualities of Silke Wagner's project. The artist, born 1968 in Go¨ppingen/Baden-Württenberg, who now lives and works in Frankfort-on-the-Main, is a true specialist in the field of art in the public sphere. She initially researches societal and social phenomena of a city and, on this basis, develops their implementation into an art project. Her work is distinguished by the creation of particular interconnections between aesthetic and societal, be- tween political and social components. For this reason, Kunstverein Heilbronn decided to invite Silke Wagner to realize a work in the city center concurrent to the Federal Garden Show. A special feature of Heilbronn is its unusually high proportion of people with a history of migration. 140 nations live in this city, 53.3 % of all inhabitants have a migration background. Combining migration and plants seems obvious and, above all, brilliant, since it offers the opportunity to illustrate and negotiate migration-related topics. The artist developed a display of thirteen floral works depicting migration statistics. Formally, Silke Wagner's presentation of these graphic works was initially inspired by the colors and shapes of the two illustrated plants. Abstract and concrete aspects intermesh, a quality that accompanies the entire project. Choosing the bus and train stops to display their plant statistics, first of all, addresses the issue of human movement. Furthermore, waiting for the next bus is boring for most public transport users, so it provides a perfect opportunity to draw attention to the project. We hope to be able to raise awareness of this important, very present and often rather negative topic.