NICA recommends | ‘Cross-pollinations: Art and the Petunia collection’ – Exhibition

NICA recommends | ‘Cross-pollinations: Art and the Petunia collection’ – Exhibition
Date: 30 March – 13 April 2023* 
Opening times: 10:00-17:00
Location: VOX-POP, Room BG3 (Binnengasthuis 9, Amsterdam)
Read more here.
*Please note that VOX-POP will be closed on Friday 7 April (Good Friday) and Monday 10 April (Easter)

Who? studio imaginalis (Marta Pagliuca Pelacani and Richard Weaver), VOX-POP (Ghanima Kowsoleea and Martin van Wijk), Christian Herren and the FNWI (Francesca Quattrocchio, Bart Groeneveld). With the help of Toni Brell (graphic design), Luca Martin and Aaron Harding (software development).

The University of Amsterdam houses the largest collection of petunia genomes in the world – and yet, almost nobody knows. Silently, the research on plant biology and genetics carried out in the greenhouses of Science Park changes the world in which we live: from plant-based milk and meat production to vaccines and human genetic studies. In a joint collaborative effort, the faculties of the Humanities and Natural Sciences present Cross-Pollinations, a digital heritage project encompassing both an online platform as well as a physical exhibition at VOX-POP. What is our connection to plant life? And how do we archive a collection of living, breathing and blossoming plants? 

This spring, the petunia collection trades the greenhouses of Science Park for the historical city centre of Amsterdam, at the heart of the humanities campus. For two weeks, VOX-POP will house the collection of petunias, becoming a space for reflection on cross-pollinations. Borrowed from botany, the term cross-pollination refers to the scientific practice of transferring pollen from the flower of one plant to another, as well as to an interchange of knowledge and ideas. Cross-Pollinations uses artistic research to explore the porous boundaries between the humanities and natural sciences, between discourse and matter, and between plant and human worlds. What does it mean to listen to plants? What is the cultural, historical and societal impact of scientific research on vegetal life? And how does botanical science shape the meaning of plant matter?  

The digital platform 

In addition to the living plants, the collection houses hundreds of seeds, as well as watercolours and photographic reproductions of petunia flowers and plants realised between the 1960s and 1990s. This wealth of archival material is representative of and rooted in Amsterdam’s rich history of flower commerce and botanical science. Cross-Pollinations includes a digital platform made for the open-source archiving of the petunia collection. Visitors can interact and play with the collection’s photographic and watercolour reproductions. The digital platform, curated by Richard Weaver and realised with the help of Lucas Martin and Aaron Harding, will be launched during the exhibition which will open on Thursday 30 March.   

The exhibition  

The exhibition at VOX-POP showcases artworks by artist Christian Herren (Switzerland, 1993), as well as projecting screens and ‘listening booths’ that allow visitors to hear researchers speak about their scientific work while surrounded by blooming petunia plants. Through an iPad, visitors can access the digital platform as an integral part of the exhibition, playing with its interactive digital tool and watching recordings of the lectures given during the public programme. The exhibition is curated by Marta Pagliuca Pelacani (studio imaginalis).

The public programme  

The exhibition will be accompanied by a rich public program: panel talks, public lectures, guided tours of the Science Park greenhouses and the Artis library, as well as botanical drawing workshops. All events will be free of charge and open to the public. We hope to welcome you soon!