Fallowland

In a time marked by climate and health crises, Fallowland explores how lying fallow and resting can offer new perspectives on sustainability — for both the earth and the body.

Fallowland is a reflection on what it means to rest – a sensory tour and a shelter exploring fallowing, the practice of ‘resting’ soil. Through acknowledging that soil, and by extension the earth, is a shared space, Fallowland explores rest as a relational and active process, and how it is intimately linked to both human and planetary health.

Rest as Resistance
In a world marked by overproduction and overconsumption, the need for rest becomes increasingly urgent. When both land and people are exhausted, it becomes necessary to lie fallow—to allow space, time, and peace for regeneration. Through art and science, this installation explores that need and shows how the pause can be an active and powerful act.

What You Can Experience
Put on a headset. Feel a leaf. Smell the earth. Brakland begins with a sound walk that guides you into the garden at the Medical Museion. Here, you are invited to use your senses and discover the living organisms around you—and within you. The art installation creates a space where you can experience the interplay between body and nature.

Amulets: Sow a Seed, Plant a Hope
The experience concludes in a colorful pavilion, where you are invited to create paper amulets containing seeds, inspired by ancient traditions where amulets were used to ward off illness and attract good forces. Here, you have the opportunity to express and plant a hope for a more sustainable future—for yourself, for the Earth, or for someone you care about. When you plant your amulet in the soil, the seeds will begin to sprout a few days later.

Practical Information
Brakland can be experienced Tuesday–Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM, between May 16 and September 2, 2025. The audio guide is accessible via your phone through a QR code. Headphones can be borrowed. The experience is free of charge and located in the courtyard of the Medical Museion.

Who’s Behind It
Fallowland is created in collaboration between artist duo Baum & Leahy, Tiff Mak (Researcher at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability at DTU), and Medical Museion. Fallowland is part of the research project Addressing Sustainability using Arts-Based Science Communication. Read more about the project here

Artistic and Research Team
Created in collaboration between the artist duo Baum & Leahy, Tiff Mak (researcher, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, DTU), and the Medical Museion.
Architect: Studio Fondu / Hugo Shackleton
Ceramicist: P. Marguerite
Sound Design: Magma Rea
Tailor: Unik Systue
Curators: Ane Signe Green and Louise Whiteley
Photos: Kathrine Thude

Baum & Leahy
Baum & Leahy is a creative studio based in Denmark and the UK, founded by Amanda Baum Olesen (DK) and Rose Leahy (UK). They create sensory installations and experiences where art, research, and audiences meet. Through collaborations with experts across disciplines, they make scientific knowledge tangible and emotionally resonant—often in the form of participatory, tactile works that invite exploration. Their projects are grounded in deep research and tell stories through materials and atmospheres that draw audiences into alternative realities—somewhere between the possible and the magical.

Baum & Leahy have exhibited internationally, including at the Wellcome Collection, Somerset House, and the V&A in London, as well as at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, the National Gallery of Denmark, and museums and art spaces in the Netherlands, Germany, and Canada.

Follow the project on Instagram
medicinskmuseion, @baumleahy, @tiffmak.

Sustainable Materials and Building Style
Fallowland uses natural and upcycled materials and is designed for disassembly, and ease of re-use in other contexts. All textiles are recycled, and some are plant-dyed by the team behind the project in one of DTU’s large lab kitchens. Beetroot, coffee grounds, onion skins and more have been used to create the colors ranging from orange and lilac to a light caramel brown dyed.

Part of a Research Project
Fallowland was developed as part of the research project Addressing Sustainability using Arts-Based Science Communication. The project investigates how sustainability can be communicated to a broader public. It is led by Marianne Achaim from the Department of Science Education and involves three partner institutions: the Danish Museum of Science & Technology, the Zoo, and Medical Museion. Each institution collaborates with a researcher and an artist to create innovative communication concepts and best practices for sustainability outreach.

The project is supported by funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation under Grant NNF220C0078707.

More info on project and collaborators
www.ind.ku.dk/english/projects/sustain-art-sci
www.museion.ku.dk/en/addressing-sustainability-with-arts-based-science-communication/
www.museion.ku.dk
www.baumleahy.com
www.tiffsmak.com
https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/persons/tiffany-shang-heng-mak