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The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen gGmbH will jointly present the exhibition “Plant Fever. Towards a phyto-centred design” in the museums of Pillnitz Palace from 29 April 2023.

Ranging from late 18th-century “plant fever” to contemporary design, this presentation takes up the entire palace and grounds and looks into plants, their history, their role and their potential. In the Wasserpalais, some 50 international projects from the fields of applied art, academia and research show that plants can be more than just a resource or decoration: they can be our close allies. In the Neues Palais, by contrast, the focus is on the historical tradition of botanical research and horticulture at and around Schloss Pillnitz. In their time, the Saxon kings Frederick Augustus I and Frederick Augustus II were swept up by “plant fever”, raising the gardens at Pillnitz to the status of a botanical collection. Visitors can trace the history of botanomania in the extensive palace grounds with their diverse range of plants, the English Pavilion, which the prince electors used as a private study, or the roughly 250-year-old camellia.

The presentation was devised by d-o-t-s – the curators Laura Drouet and Olivier Lacrouts – and produced by the Belgian centre d’innovation et de design (CID). Following exhibitions in Grand-Hornu (BE) and Zurich (CH), this will be the first time it is shown in Germany.

Please register for the press conference at presse(at)skd.museum by 4 p.m. on 26 April.

More about the project