The 2022 exhibition Botanical Resonance: Plants and Sounds in the Garden embraced how important plants are in the human soundscape— both in nature and culture—and how these species are endangered globally due to overharvesting and climate change. A particular focus included how the Garden is working with scientists and musical instrument makers around the world to address some of these conservation issues. In conversation, visitors and other curators continually remarked on how they were previously unaware of how dependent humans are on plants to create sound and music. A series of live music performances featuring plant-based instruments, such as alphorns and west African idiophones, gave opportunities to experience (hear, feel, sense) the vibrations of sound making in person. I commissioned three contemporary artists to create artworks interpreting plants and sounds in different ways. Annika Kappner created two auditory guided soundwalks (accessed via QR code) that provided a meditative exploration of plants and sounds into the Garden. Brooke Erin Goldstein designed a full gallery quilted room installation visualizing the ways plant families communicate with one another, in which the world is bisected, above and below (Figure 2). As pictured, one half of the gallery featured a forest’s underground root system network, and the other half illustrated a manicured yard of grass that had just been cut, visualizing the grass screaming (we usually experience this as the smell of cut grass). Kevin Harris composed and built an electronically synthesized immersive rainforest sound installation as an offering to the botanical world that nourishes us every day. A virtual talk series with the artists gave detailed presentations on the creative process for the artworks in the exhibition. Curating exhibitions to intersect plant science, human culture, and art expands the possibilities of interpretation for the public, opening up avenues of
Figure 2. Reverberations, an immersive quilted room installation by Brooke Erin Goldstein, 26’4”L x 19’10”D x 8’4”H, ca. 2022. (Photo credit: Virginia Harold)
engagement that make botanical content relevant for many visitors who might be intimidated by science-only content. While anecdotal and not quantitative, feedback from my conversations with the public and other curatorial colleagues has made clear that approaching a subject of popular interest—while including botanical science and art—makes an impact on how people understand (and enjoy learning about) how connected plants are to our lives. These experiences remove barriers to information and build connections that will lead to deeper understanding of plants, as well as the larger world around us.
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