Plant fiction: weaving truth with myth to create a radical re-thinking of our relationship with nature in the city

Climate Changing Stories is the new exhibition opening at the Science Museum in London on 27 June with a different story to tell – from 19th century inventions that paved the way for today’s new technologies – to contemporary art and film which show us a glimpse of futuristic adaptations.

Hushrooms

Starring at the exhibition in its UK premiere is Troika’s scientific artwork ‘Plant Fiction’. Imagine plants that excrete pigments that can be used to make the most impenetrable security devises in the world, creepers that sense air born viruses and plants that reclaim gold from electronic circuits found in landfills. Drawing inspiration from current biotechnology research and scientific principles of pyotoremediation, artists collective Troika weaves truth with myth to create a radical re-thinking of our relationship with nature and show a futuristic world that could be close to becoming a reality. (Click on each image for Plant Fiction excerpts on each unique plant…)

Weeping Thief

About Plant Fiction
‘Plant Fiction’ is an exploration into the role of nature in Western civilization, where over time, men have succeeded to define culture - especially the city - as a social concept intrinsically opposite to nature, a concept in which our drive for technological development and cultural refinement is fueled by the quest to control and understand nature. In this quest, guided by reason and human progress, modern natural sciences are developed to achieve a technological mastery over natural processes and an endless stream of new products and technologies is introduced into contemporary society validated by its promise to improve the comforts of living and increase the overall level of human well-being.

Inadvertently this technological progress has led to the inverse consequence of fossil-fuel consumption, population growth, urban expansion or deforestation, ultimately placing a greater strain on the continuation of future resources due to pollution, resource depletion and the loss of biodiversity.

Selfeater

The title, ‘Plant Fiction’ layers facts, fiction, myth, history, radical thinking and researches our present-day relationship with nature and culture, green and the city. Five scenarios, each formed around a fictitious plant species are placed on location in a London of the near-future. Each kind is utilized to improve a familiar man-made condition.

In these near-future scenarios Troika imagined plants that would self-decompose in gain of biofuels, plants that excrete unique pigments to be implemented in security devices, creepers that can sense air-borne viruses and plants that reclaim gold from electronic circuits found in landfills, thus evoking prospective scenarios while uncovering our often short-sighted and utilitarian view on nature and mankind’s relationship to it.

Pandemic Plant

Visitor information
Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2DD
Open daily 10.00 to 18.00
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk / 0870 870 4868