Jakob Kudsk Steensen: Wetland

At MoMA, Triglav, the three-headed god of Slavic folklore, turns up as a giant tree in a digital swamp. He lives in Berl-Berl, Jakob Kudsk Steensen's simulation of the wetlands Berlin was built on. The city's name comes from the Slavic word for swamp.

It is the show's only work, and it runs live: image and sound are computed in real time, so no pass repeats. Steensen spent months in Berlin's remaining wetlands with the Museum für Naturkunde, scanning soils, plants and currents with macro photogrammetry. You stand among wall-spanning screens while altered field recordings of amphibians mix with Arca's voice and Sorbian and Slavic songs. Berl-Berl opened in 2021 at Halle am Berghain and has changed with each stop since.

Time Out placed it between art installation and "extremely sophisticated nature documentary." It fills the Agnes Gund Garden Lobby on Floor 1 until March 7, 2027, and admission is free. Berlin named itself after its swamp; New York's still turns up on subway platforms after a hard rain.