Living exhibition plants ideas in visitors’ imagination
The mysterious miniature forest created by an environmental artist celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the Hoge Kempen National Park in Limburg
Art of nature
The project was conceived as a real-world extension of the 360-degree animated movie shown in the adjoining planetarium. The Life of Trees teaches children about the life cycle and ecological role of trees, but the exhibition also stands on its own and can be visited apart from the film.
“It grew and grew and grew,” says Will Beckers, the environmental artist behind the exhibition. “In the beginning, there were only a few works, but I eventually became really taken with the idea.”
Many of the works in the room are literally growing, made up of living plants that will continue to grow and change during the exhibition’s run. The room is laid out like a forest path leading the visitor from one installation to another, each with its own theme.
“I like building an environment where you are sucked in, and the nature embraces you,” says Beckers, a Dutch artist who now lives in Flemish Limburg. Also known locally as “the willow man”, he often creates large-scale, outdoor works in public spaces and was attracted to this project because of the chance to reach both kids and adults in a different kind of setting from a gallery or museum.
Decay into life
The installations blur the distinction between artwork, science project and museum display, utilising a combination of plants and artifice. Some seem to exist purely to delight the viewer with their beauty, while others have a more educational purpose.
Many of the works incorporate clear glass bulbs with long extrusions suspended over the plants. They look like alien pods or primitive organisms and contain a slurry of organic material at the bottom of the sphere.
The only way to understand yourself is to understand nature
These are a kind of perpetual plant-feeding machine designed by the artist. Each one is hand-blown at his workshop in Lommel and each is different. He places organic material in the vessel along with a little water, and as the contents decay, the resulting material is slowly released onto the plant below.
“This decaying process, this fight to establish new life in nature, it’s amazing to look at and to understand,” he says. For him, the cycle of life, death and decay is essential to our understanding of nature. “The only way to understand yourself is to understand nature.”
Plant a tree
Children can pick up an expo kit at the reception desk with a magnifying glass and other tools that let them investigate and interact with the various installations. For adults, there’s a booklet with photos and texts explaining the idea behind each work.
However, Beckers also wants people to discover things for themselves as they go through the exhibition. “It’s also planting ideas in people’s heads and letting them see things differently,” he says.
An important aspect of the project is hands-on workshops for school groups, in which kids get to make a clay sculpture containing the seed of a tree. “They take it home and put it in water and then plant it,” explains Beckers. “They give it to nature as a present.”
The exhibition was commissioned as part of the 10-year anniversary of the Hoge Kempen National Park. The Cosmodrome, which combines a planetarium with a public observatory, is located in Kattevennen, one of the six gateways to the park.
Until 8 January, Cosmodrome, Planetariumweg 19, Genk
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