Herbarium Vivum 2 (2020-2021) is the second iteration of the work Herbarium Vivum by Driessens & Verstappen.
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.