Eva-Maria Lopez: Phyto-Travellers
In the organizer's words:
When Christopher Columbus returned from his voyage to the "New World" in 1492, he brought numerous plants with him to Europe - including corn, tomatoes and potatoes. Plants that have been introduced to us from other regions of the world since that time are known as neophytes - "new plants".
Initially, these were mainly useful plants that were deliberately spread in the course of colonization in order to cultivate them profitably worldwide. Later, ornamental plants were added, which were collected and imported by explorers and so-called plant hunters, mostly for their beauty or exoticism. In our gardens, examples such as rhododendron, cherry laurel or bamboo not only tell of global plant migration, but also reflect fashionable trends and ideals from different eras of garden design. And they sometimes tell of the ecological problems that neophytes bring with them in the age of climate change and globalized trade. They are then called invasive species.
Many plants have also lost their names as they have traveled across continents - they have been given new names by their so-called discoverers in the West. Phyto-Travellers, the new project conceived for ZKM | Kubus Subraum by the Paris and Karlsruhe-based artist Eva-Maria Lopez, focuses on this aspect of the cultural appropriation and domestication of plants from other regions of the world and cultures. Lopez's installation consists of ornamental plants that have arrived and been given new names, which are now so deeply rooted in our gardens that they are usually perceived as indigenous and help to shape the familiar landscape as a matter of course. In her work, the artist reproduces the basic shape of the "Niña" - one of the two ships from Columbus' fleet that brought the first "new plants" to Europe - on a scale of 2:3. Mounted on transport pallets, the result is an indoor garden of neophytes that evokes the botanical heritage of a globalized plant world. At the same time, Phyto-Travelers is a living archive that presents the close interweaving of natural and cultural history with a light and clear gesture.
This content has been machine translated.Location
Organizer
![Eröffnung: [MASTERCLASS] #11](https://imageflow.rausgegangen.de/url/https%3A//s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/rausgegangen/W7xE2VIjTnCaGpzbbxQu_1.jpeg?width=300&height=225&mode=crop)
![[MASTERCLASS] #11](https://imageflow.rausgegangen.de/url/https%3A//s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/rausgegangen/cdy0ZrsUTjeZSw10d8PA_2025-masterclass-quer.jpg?width=300&height=225&mode=crop)
Events near you
Activities near you
Popular event locations
The best event recommendations for the Rausgegangen App!
