Herbarium Vivum 2

Plant scientists study the adaptive capacities of plants under extreme conditions, as  happens when new crop varieties are developed (that tolerate drought or that flourish at  salinated soil, for instance). How far can you take this? Driessens & Verstappen found  inspiration for their project in the herbarium, where the shape of plants is manipulated  by flattening them, and where the uniform categorization highlights their differences. In Herbarium Vivum 2 the artists do the same with eight living native plants. They made  planters where the plants have to develop themselves into an almost two-dimensional  growth form. The difference with Herbarium Vivum 1 is that in this experiment the plant had to grow in a horizontal plane instead of a vertical one. The plants that where  adaptive enough to grow and to flower in this extremely flattened space are: narrow leaf  plantain, frittalary, field marigold, scarlet pimpernel, garden star-of-Bethlehem, orange hawkweed, italian grape hyacinth and common evening primrose.