This winter and spring, Capital Fringe had the privilege of partnering once again with Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens through our visual art program Down to Earth—a residency that invites artists to respond to one of DC’s most ecologically rich and culturally layered public parks. The work that emerged was quietly radical: immersive and deeply researched.
Through Down to Earth, we asked artists to create outside the traditional gallery or theater—to engage directly with land, water, and community. The result wasn’t just beautiful work. It was a reframing of how art can function in public space: as witness, as listener, as amplifier of natural cycles and human history.
For the Winter Season, artist Andrew Kastner and Fourth Floor Design created Kenilworth.wayside.at, a mobile web-based augmented reality experience that reimagines how we engage with public land without relying on words. Inspired by his experience with post-stroke aphasia, Andrew stripped away signage and instead built an intuitive, wordless system that guides users through 4,000 years of the Gardens’ layered story. From blooming waterlilies to rising tides and 3D renderings of historical figures like Ranger Mac, Kenilworth.wayside.at helps us feel our way through the past and future of this land.
Spring Season artist Billy Friebele turned his attention to the in-between spaces, where water meets air. He constructed a floating camera rig modeled after the body of a water strider, inspired by the tiny insects that skim the water’s surface. Using this handmade device (built with plastic water bottles, no less), Billy documented the liminal world of spatterdock, ancient lotus seeds, and drifting debris. His project captures the fragile balance of life at the Gardens and the looming threat of what may be lost as climate change accelerates.
We cannot ignore that Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and the surrounding neighborhoods of Ward 7, experience regular flooding. Trails disappear underwater. Ecosystems shift. These aren’t abstract projections; they’re daily realities. Both Down to Earth projects this year responded to that urgency, reminding us that this beloved park may not exist in its current form for future generations.
Action cannot be delayed; protecting what remains is crucial. Long-term stewardship efforts are underway, but they require sustained investment and stronger legislative support. Instead, we are seeing the opposite: in the 2026 proposed budget, the Mayor called for a 24% cut to the Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE), the very agency tasked with responding to DC’s climate resilience and watershed protection.
Since launching Down to Earth in 2020, we’ve invited artists to engage with these complexities—the tensions between human impact and ecosystem resilience, past and future, art and ecology. Capital Fringe has always championed independent artists doing ambitious work, but this program, and our partners, allowed us to go further: to support inquiry that doesn’t need a spotlight, just space and time.
Enjoy Kenilworth.wayside.at the Gardens!!
The grounds of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens are open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the grounds are open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Important: There are no signs or on-site instructions about this Kenilworth.wayside.at at the Gardens. Visitors must print and bring this one-sheet to participate: PDF printout