In our everyday life, we tend to overlook plants. Too subtle, slow and complicated are their signals for us to understand or even notice them. If we do think about plants however, we are apt to not regard them as active beings but rather as passive objects that we have a name and a use for. This project tries to emphasize that plants are active living beings that are not only very aware of their surroundings, but also react to it in various ways and are therefore able to perform a form of individual choice and basic intelligence. The project shall inspire to question the way we regard and treat plants in our everyday life. On this account a series of three objects has been developed that communicate facts derived from a phase of extensive research in scientific, philosophic and art related fields as well as various experiments.
The Plantoscope is a device for the observation of plant life. It looks and works similar to a stethoscope. Have a look at the full description of this object on behance here: The Plantoscope.
The Autonomous Plant is an independant urban plant. This object both questions our relationship to plants in urban space and explores whether plants inherit a form of own intentions and preferences. Here's the link to a full description of this object on behance: The Autonomous Plant.
A Glimpse of a distant future, a speculation about the evolution and possible agenda of the poppy plant. Read more about this object on behance here: A Glimpse.
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This project was developed by Annika Engelhardt as a Master Project in the Digital Media Master at Hochschule für Künste Bremen.
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SPECIAL THANKS TO
Dr. Kai Engelhardt (Electronics)
C. David Peterson (Programming)
Prof. Dr. Jörg Fromm (Electrical Signals in Plants)
Jukka Boehm (Electronics and Programming)
Joachim Heintz (Audioprogramming / MaxMSP)
Karl & Anselm (Wood Workshop)
Peter von Maydell, Andrea Sick, Dennis Paul, Tanja Diezmann & Petra Klusmeyer (Supervisors)
DM Master Studio HfK Bremen
