We nurse feral public land. We wander the urban wilds – places where planning loosens its grip, weeds split concrete, bodies gather, walls get written-over, species move in, and other ways of living become possible. We come for the beauty, the mess, the heat. 

But ferality is never innocent. We witness abandonment, stigma, enclosure, speculation, value extraction, and displacement. Land is neglected until neglect becomes an argument for redevelopment. What was allowed to grow wild is suddenly discovered as valuable. Eyes turn.

So we watch. We engage. We collect artifacts from places whose futures are being decided elsewhere. The exhibition gathers around two such sites.

Cornish Works, Sheffield, UK – a historical industrial site closely observed in 2023, suspended between decay, occupation, and a threat of losing heritage status. 

Žirmūnai Winter Port, Vilnius, Lithuania – observed since 2021, when the recreational future of this public riverside territory was already under pressure. Its buildings have since been demolished, and the site is being transformed into a luxurious housing development.

These are not empty lands. They are feral landscapes, social habitats, novel ecosystems, and contested commons: places thick with memory, spontaneous life, and unrealised futures.

We meet at Retrito Smarsas  – itself unruly, precious and threatened – not to mourn what has been lost but to share the stories, show the artifacts and celebrate the urban wilderness.