Portable planted wild wicker sculpture, with sound performance
In collaboration with Emmanuel Hubaut
Wicker, guzmania, arduino, horticultural lighting.

A guzmania, a very common bromeliad with a spectacular flowering habit, is planted in a cap-pot made from wild wickerwork. The piece, which is the product of vernacular know-how,
rooted in a tradition of handcrafting with what surrounds us, is matched by a network of cables. The leaves of the bromeliad are connected by alligator clips to a ‘makey makey’ by
, an almost root-like array of electronic wires. The arduino is linked to the soundplant programme, which enables sound sequences to be triggered remotely.
This perfomative piece is an ironic response to the fashion for making music “with” plants. Making music using the electrical currents that flow through plants (and all living things) is a practice that has existed since the 1970s, using a variety of techniques, but it does not allow us to claim that we are entering into a dialogue with plants. Taking anthropomorphism to its logical conclusion, the idea here is to literally make the plant speak, despite the fact that we do not share the same modes of communication with plants. The guzmania, in a musical performance with Emmanuel Hubaut, speaks, breathes, shouts, and we can even hear its heart beating.