Greenhouse re-installed at the V2 Test_Lab session on july 9th 2009

– Which issues would you like to address with your work/project? And does
it make any explicit statements, or raise specific questions, about the
state of the world?

We live in a world dense with media sources providing us an exuberant amount of information straight into our digital lifestyle, reaching us directly or indirectly by means of peers in the social media networks we’re in. We are being updated and informed non-stop and on the go, we continuously need to scan a flood of texts and references to online content worth visiting, new developments or other findings. Technically we’re being offered an unequalled ease to view, study or enjoy all those experiences with the click of a button. But all we do is Twitter about our scoop (if we find it first, among with 10000 #scoop spotters) or we create a Delicious/StubleUpon/360 bookmark about it, tagged ‘todo’ or ‘read_later’.

We lack the time and concentration to experience the actual content being referred to. We live in a meta-culture where the references have become the main content.

If hyperlinks and references are the maximum level of information we’re capable to handle nowadays, I reckoned skipping the actual content would save me time and disappointments. So I developed the Publicity Plant to survive on references only. Blog-postings, twitter-tweets, it’s the minimal but sufficient level of attention to keep it alive. There is no content, as a true publicity plant has no true body. In that sense, this Publicity Plant isn’t a true publicity plant, because a real publicity plant is involved.

– Can you describe the context (and pertinence) of your work in
contemporary settings? Are they economical, social, ecological, cultural,
anything else?

The origin of the project is the need for a new coming artist to claim a position in the crowded art scene. I’ve tried to create a feedback loop within the networked artist community. The project provided me with an proper excuse to send mass or direct emails-spam. Requesting publicity for a genuine cause, a real-life bouquet. Explaining how the growth of the plant was directly influenced by active and proper care from it’s supporters. And although being monitored and ‘controlled’ digitally, it dictated the natural ease and tempo of the project. As the seeded bouquet failed to develop any flowers, it showed me the limitations of applying my digitized thinking in areas outside of the computerized environment. It has a pré compared to digital creations too: plants are a very genuine visualization of statistical data. No way to positively readjust the statistical outcomes.

– Would your work (still) make sense if placed in the context of the 1980s
or 2030s?

Technically, it could have been realized in the ’80, although it would work at less speed, and it would have a smaller potential audience, which reduces the informational qualities of the project. This publicity plant anno 2009 really provided insight in its publicity reach, because in theory, nearly anyone in the world could have been reached.

In the years around 2030 the technical achievements in ecological control will probably provide us with the knowledge and equipment to grow a plant showing multi-dimensional information visualized in the form, color and size of it’s leaves and twigs. Looking forward to that moment!

– Do you believe that the world is in crisis?

Some fundamental structures are being changed, and it’s happening in a very prominent, visual and loud way, just as many things nowadays become a topic of the world instantly, being voiced by millions around the globe in choir. Somehow, I do see a little crisis in the superficial ways we currently react and (not) act to cope with the overly informed lives we’re living, but I’m taking this fact as an opportunity too to create works that perfectly fit the contemporary type of audience.