Dance with plants!

When you move around the artwork the plants dance and sing. Sensors are attached to the ferns and measure their functions. These measurements are transformed into sounds that can be heard by the human ear.

The installation is inspired by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s (1744-1829) experiment with the plant Mimosa pudica. The sensitive plants were transported in wagons along the cobblestone streets of Paris. In the experiment, the plants showed the ability to learn and to remember. Will the plants find a common tune during the exhibition? At the time when Lamarck’s test was performed, Romanticism was the dominant art movement, during which the ballet became very popular. Let us rejoice at the new coming of Romanticism, for love between the species is needed.

In the plant choir ”corps de ballet” different species of ferns dance, with a staghorn fern as the soloist dancer.

Working Group