Did you know that the name Berlin derives from the old Slavic word for “swamp”? Jakob Kudsk Steensen (b. 1987) does. His artwork, Berl-Berl (2021–ongoing), draws directly on this etymology, taking the form of a virtual wetland. The piece is the latest installation on MoMA’s Hyundai Card Digital Wall, which has hosted several mesmerising, future-forward projects in recent years, including Refik Anadol’s AI interpretation of the museum’s collection and an investigation into polar ice sheets from Peggy Weil. Kudsk Steensen’s contribution reminds us that Berlin – along with many other European cities – is built on marsh. However, Germany has lost more than 80% of its wetlands over the past 300 years. The capital’s remaining bogs are therefore an enticing prospect for Kudsk Steensen, who has an interest in overlooked natural phenomena.
Berl-Berl is rooted in months of fieldwork in the swamps which still surround the city. The artist, whose previous projects navigate volcanic deep-sea landscapes and temporary desert lakes, travelled into the marshes – sometimes via canoe – carrying a camera. He also researched Sorbian and Slavic mythology, studied linguistic history and collected specimens of local rocks, flora and fauna in collaboration with the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. His findings appear on screen in Berl-Berl, as seas of bright white fungi punctuate mossy banks, birds circle overhead and leaves are shown in extreme close-ups. Viewers are invited to sit down and watch as the piece reveals both existing and long-vanished waterways.
These images were created using three-dimensional scanning, game engine technology and macro photogrammetry. “You take 1,000 photos and then these individual pictures become 3D objects,” Kudsk Steensen explains. This approach reflects a wider interest among artists in using digital tools to bring audiences closer to the natural world. Marshmallow Laser Feast’s Of the Oak (2025), for example, harnessed LiDAR to reveal trees as vast, interconnected ecosystems, whilst ScanLAB Projects’ FRAMERATE: Desert Pulse (2025) charted a year in the life of the Sonoran Desert using similar techniques.
Whilst the installation is undoubtedly visually striking, Kudsk Steensen pushes beyond aesthetics to create something multisensory here. He describes Berl-Berl as a “song for the swamp,” and to this end has transformed field recordings of the landscape into a rhythmic soundtrack (produced by sound artists Matt McCorkle and Lugh O’Neill). The audio is accompanied by hypnotic vocals from singer Arca, inspired by past languages spoken around Berlin. Folklore and songs were once used to map the region’s terrain and stories. Now, Kudsk Steensen reimagines these traditions through digital media, placing communication at the heart of Berl-Berl. “Technology for me, in the sense of being a medium, is a connector,” he says.
Berl-Berl is a digital simulation of wetlands and rivers in Europe. But it is also an attempt to recover what remains of these landscapes, from their ecological complexity to the myths, languages and stories associated with them. By bringing these elements together, Kudsk Steensen presents the swamp as both a natural environment and a repository of cultural memory. He creates new ways of encountering landscapes that have been destroyed or overlooked, questioning what these places can tell us about the past and how they might be understood in the future. MoMA asked: “have you ever wondered what once existed under the streets where we stand?” and Kudsk Steensen answered: many modern cities were built on top of wetlands, and if we look close enough, traces of those lost ecosystems remain.
Jakob Kudsk Steensen: Wetland is at Museum of Modern Art, New York, until 7 March.
Words: Eleanor Sutherland
Image Credits:
1. Jakob Kudsk Steensen. Berl-Berl. 2021–ongoing. Real-time simulation (moving image and sound). Originally commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. Courtesy the artist.
2. Jakob Kudsk Steensen. Berl-Berl. 2021–ongoing. Real-time simulation (moving image and sound). Originally commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. Courtesy the artist.
3. Jakob Kudsk Steensen. Berl-Berl. 2021–ongoing. Real-time simulation (moving image and sound). Originally commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. Courtesy the artist.
4. Jakob Kudsk Steensen. Berl-Berl. 2021–ongoing. Real-time simulation (moving image and sound). Originally commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. Courtesy the artist.
