herbario de plantas artificiales
The artificial plant herbarium is an artistic project that collects, studies and records representations of the vegetable world.
This Herbarium is made up of a collection and a wide range of works, actions and documents, from photographs, drawings or maps, to assemblies, dissections and installations around the false plant universe.
The collection lists different types of flowers, leaves, stems, fruits, seeds, roots, or trunks. These false plants have been obtained through pickups in Expeditions of different kinds, through exchanges, purchases or donations, and those come from many different places. The specimens in this collection have been documented, labelled, classified and many of them, under the premises of a "comparative studies" methodology, have been arranged in the form of "botanical plates" for archiving or display.
Royal Botanical Expedition of the New Kingdom of Granada, 1783 - 1816
Expedition Venice 2009
Trip to collect "glass botany" specimens of artificial flora from the region of Venice, Italy.
53 Venice Art Biennale.
Reproductions of flowers, fruits and herbs are sought in the different shops and glass workshops in Venice and Murano to collect their botanical creations and show them inside the Herbarium of artificial plants. Several artisans collaborate with the herbarium who, in addition to showing their creations, make commissioned pieces to adapt them to the taxon boxes of the herbarium of artificial plants.
InSitu Archive - Venice Expedition
Teyuna Expedition 2012
Trip to introduce specimens of artificial flora in the Kogui territory, Koshungena and Teyuna places, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia
Invited by Pedro López to visit the call The Lost City, we visited tourist camps and the vestiges of the old indigenous settlement in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. A parody of the act of colonial conquest was proposed, making the tour of the Kogui territory carrying specimens of artificial flowers Made in China. A photographic documentation was made with the people we met on those journeys.
El viajero Pedro López sostiene una Flor artificial (Ave del Paraíso) en Ciudad Perdida (Teyuna). Enero 2012.
example
Stavanger Expedition 2018
Search trip for artificial specimens in the Norwegian city of Stavanger.
Invited by StavangerKunstMuseum for the exhibition Flora, we toured the city and its surroundings. We find traditional embroidery botany and a dolls´ botany. We got several "Made in China" flower exemplars. The final pieces were carefully arranged in drawers of biological specimens from the Stavanger´s Museum of Natural History.
InSitu Archive - Stavanger Expedition
Sicily expedition 2018
The Sicilian Expedition begins in the city of Palermo, and extends through significant geographical points around the island. Although it is not a detailed or exhaustive route, we have approached different places to make a reconnaissance and establish the presence of artificial taxa in Agrigento, Porto Empedocle, Corleone, Piana degli Albanese, Santo Stefano de Camastra, Milazzo, Cefalù, Messina, the volcano Etna, Taormina and Caltagirone among others. In this expedition we have made collections in these places, making a particular emphasis on the presence of artificial flowers on religious altars, constructions of worship to spiritual beings or memorials in honor of loved ones. Many Catholic places were visited (this is the most widespread practice among the local population of the island) including cemeteries, churches and other street altars. While there was an intention to reach other religious communities, the results of this section should be postponed for a future opportunity. With criteria of collecting and expanding the Herbal Archive of Artificial Plants, we have taken for our documentation and registration, "taxa in situ", even some specimens that have been affected by the climatic conditions of the collection site. By way of exchange, new taxa of Chinese silk and plastic flowers (Poppies, roses, lilies, jasmines, peonies and carnations) have been placed in order to compensate for the extraction of these particular samples and restore the spirit of offering there assumed.
This Expedition was possible thanks to support of Manifesta 12, European Art Biennal and Palermo´s Council.
Sicily expedition
Still Life Fruits, 2018
Plate#27- Dissection
Ceramic objects from the workshop of Todaro Tommasino (Santo Stefano di Camastra, Messina) photography and pencil on cardboard.
112 x 80 x 8 cm.
Bank of Spain Collection.
In Santo Stefano de Camastra they make ceramics of all kinds such as the heads of the Arab noble man cutted by the palermitanian Maiden who seak for her independence, the pine cones of fortune and other souvenirs.
Sicily expedition
Fruit Bowl - Dissection
Ceramic objects from the workshop of Todaro Tommasino (Santo Stefano di Camastra, Messina)Detail of the fruit bowl; installation in the greenhouse
Botanical Garden of Palermo
30 x 50 x 43cm.
Bank of Spain Collection.
There, I found Tomasinno´s ceramic fruit platter, who allowed me to make in his workshop and with his plaster molds the separation of the fruits (the part) from his still life (the whole), for the studies of the artificial herbarium.
Sicily expedition
Ghibelline sunflower, 2018
Plate#01
Plastic and Fabric PlantMade in China,photography and pencil drawing mounted on cardboard.
112 x 80 x 8 cm.
On the way to Gibellina vecchia, the village destroyed in 1969 by the fury of an earthquake, I found a road altar to the Virgin of the milk and the child. Along with some roses and tulips on the altar there is also a huge vase with sunflowers. One of these was broken and I exchanged it for a bunch of lilies.
Sicily expedition
Mermaid Flowers, 2018
Plate#03
Plastic and Fabric PlantsMade in China,photography and pencil drawing mounted on cardboard.
112 x 80 x 8 cm.
On this beach of pebbles and stones comes the song of the Sirens. Legend has it that it was here, in this bay, where Ulysses was tied to the mast of his boat to listen to them. The bouquet of fake flowers that I held in my hands serves as a listened siren´s song testimony.
The bouquet of fake flowers that I held in my hands serves as a testimony of the siren song listened.
Sicily expedition
Corinthian column in Agrigento, 2018
Plate#29
Plaster Capital Photography and pencil on cardboard
112 x 80 x 8 cm.
These 12 approximations of a capital of Corinthian order to the Doric columns of the Greek temples in Agrigento, constitute an exercise for Landscape Comparative Studies at the island. Spread the word that it is forbidden to go painting the temples or columns of the site!
Sicily expedition
Liriecillo Polyphemus, 2018
Plate# 3. 4
Plastic and Fabric PlantsMade in China,photography, oil painting on canvas and pencil drawing mounted on cardboard.
80 x 65 x 5 cm.
In Chapter IX of the Odyssey, Ulysses faces the bearded Cyclops Polyphemus (the one with many words). It is said that in the grotto of this hill, in the port of Milazzo, it was his dwelling. Under it, a house and the parking lot of the football stadium, which receives athletes kids every Sunday.
InSitu ArchiveSicily expedition
Expeditionon N.Y 2014
Thanks:
InSitu Archive New York Expedition
