Plant Fever grips Pillnitz Palace and Park
28 April 2023PF 1
Current debates on topics such as climate justice or humanity’s ecological footprint and consumption patterns make it clear that we urgently need to rethink the relationship between humans and plants! The exhibition “Plant Fever. Towards a phyto-centred design” takes on that challenge and reveals the hidden potential that lies in cooperating with the plant world.
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 stops in Grand-Hornu (BE) and Zurich (CH), this will be the first time an extended version of the exhibition is shown in Germany. From 29 April 2023, it will be jointly presented by Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) and Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen gGmbH (SBG), launching the new season at the Kunstgewerbemuseum. The Schlossmuseum at Pillnitz Palace and Park has been open to visitors since 1 April.
The Wasserpalais at the baroque royal summer residence presents some 50 international projects from the fields of applied art, academia and research. A whole range of prototypes are displayed, from fashion, furniture and the decorative arts to computer technology, bio-robots and foodstuffs. The project rests on a manifesto of seven principles committing to use plants in a respectful, responsible way and make our planet fit for the future. The artists selected for “Plant Fever” see our natural flora not just as a resource for food, materials or recreation, but also as a source of inspiration and an ally in the process of transforming society into a more sustainable system. They work with the structures and behaviours found in the plant world to develop new solutions that tackle today’s and tomorrow’s environmental and social issues on a level playing field with plants. The exhibition proposes that design should be seen from the perspective of plants: moving from anthropocentric to phytocentric design.
At the Neues Palais, the focus is on the historical tradition of botanical research and horticulture at Pillnitz Palace and Park. In the time around 1800, novelties and exotica had long been seen as a status symbol, but there were still large gaps in the knowledge about the cultural implications, properties and possible uses of the new plant species from around the world. Not one, but two Saxon kings caught “plant fever”: Frederick Augustus I and Frederick Augustus II both spent their summers in Pillnitz, raising the gardens there to the status of a botanical collection. Plants were identified, herbaria founded and libraries amassed. The botanomania of the 19th century gave rise to Dresden’s horticultural tradition, whole dynasties of horticulturists and world-class horticultural exhibitions. To this day, renowned national and regional research and teaching institutions work together in Pillnitz as partners in the Grünes Forum Pillnitz association.
Visitors can trace the history of this mania 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 with its technologically unique hothouse.
A booklet to accompany the exhibition guides visitors around various sites in Pillnitz and all over Dresden, such as the neighbouring Kammeyergarten, run by Dresden University of Applied Sciences (HTW). In a pavilion there, students work with the Viennese design studio mischer’traxler, researching into the rights of nature taking the example of the island in the Elbe at Pillnitz. A project entitled “Themis Real Time” aims to give nature a voice in the shape of an AI-generated avatar.
This year’s DESIGN CAMPUS Summer School is also dedicated to the plant life. The curators Laura Drouet and Olivier Lacrouts have developed a five-week programme of workshops in Pillnitz from 20 July to 25 August 2023, named the “School of Phyto-Centred Design”.
The museums at Pillnitz Palace and Park are run by different organisations. The Kunstgewerbemuseum with its DESIGN CAMPUS in the Wasserpalais and Bergpalais is run by Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD). The Schlossmuseum in the Neues Palais, which presents various temporary exhibitions and a permanent exhibition on the history of Pillnitz Palace, is run by Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen (SBG), as are the palace grounds. The collective exhibition project “Plant Fever” is a sign of their ambition to develop the site in even closer cooperation in future. The joint activity day “Übungen in Pflanzenfieber/Exercises in Plant Fever” on Saturday, 29 April 2023 in cooperation with the Dresden Centre of Science and Art (DZWK) offers multifarious insights into the exhibition and into topics related to phyto-centred design.
