Interwoven – Exercises in Root system Domestication
In this work artist Diana Scherer focuses on the dynamics of subterranean parts of plants: the root system, which neurobiologists regard as the brain of the plants.
“In 2015 I started applying the ‘intelligence’ of plants in my work. In collaboration with biologists I started to search for a technique that would enable me to control the growth of the plants root. With the work Interwoven Exercises in Root system Domestication the organic network of the root system develops into an artificial tissue. During the cultivation process the roots adjust themselves to underground templates allowing the material to weave or braid itself. I consider the root system as if it is made of yarn. The refined, white structure of grass, for example, makes me think of silk and I compare the powerful yellowish skeins of the marguerite with wool. The project is presented in an installation of photographic work and ‘real’ material of the domesticated root system.”
“The patterns of the underground templates are based on the construction and structuring principles of nature. In this theory, it is assumed that the same elements and patterns in each plant keep coming back over and over again and that there is a geometric order. For example of cells, crystals, honeycombs or shells. With my choice for these geometric elements, I am trying to comply with the order of nature.”