PHOTOSYNTHESISING FLOWERPOTS

© Photo credits TAKAHASHI Kenji – Photo courtesy of Tokyo Arts and Space

INSTALLATION

Robotic arm programming: Gergely Péter Barna

Digital manufacturing: Gergely Péter Barna

Manufacturing assistance: Tomohiro Inoue

Incubator design and development: Thomas Ortiz & Gergely Péter Barna

Archiving support: Takumi Yoshida

Supported by: Production Grant Flanders Government, TOKAS International Creator Residency Program

Thanks to: Fungicha, KYOTO Design Lab, Kyoto Institute of Technology Waseda University, Assoc. Prof. Kazutoshi Tsuda, Prof. Hiroya Tanaka, Prof. Hideo Iwasaki and artist and curator Ryuta Aoki.

PHOTOSYNTHESISING FLOWERPOTS

Photosynthesising Flowerpots is an experimental project that repurposes the traditional flowerpot as a living artefact carrying out photosynthesis. Emerging from the symbiosis between a computer-controlled, 3D-printed bio-structure and photosynthetic microorganisms, the work explores the potential of living materials within sustainable design.

Photosynthesising Flowerpots grew out of earlier research in Barcelona and a residency in Tokyo, where the artist duo explored Interspecies interdependencies between microorganisms, plants, and urban ecosystems. Photosynthesising Flowerpots seeks to redefine the concept of the flowerpot: no longer as a purely functional container, but as a symbiosis of human craftsmanship and living organisms. Their research focused on the symbiotic ability of plants to perform photosynthesis, regenerate, and supply oxygen to urban areas, with an emphasis on the growth patterns of potted plants during photosynthesis.

These explorations were further developed during a three-month residency at the Tokyo Arts and Space Center (TOKAS) managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation of the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art. There, the duo created a flowerpot that photosynthesises and gradually reinforce itself. The work draws attention to the threats and imbalances caused by human domestication of the environment among diverse living ecosystems. While the pot structure provides a living environment for the microorganisms, offering them a substrate, moisture, and sunlight, the cyanobacteria carry out photosynthesis and gradually strengthen the structure of the flowerpot through biomineralisation.

By merging human craftsmanship with one of Earth’s oldest organisms, the work reflects on sustainable processes in the face of climate change. It raises ecological, ethical, and aesthetic questions, inviting an interspecies perspective in which human life is deeply intertwined with other forms of life. Through this lens, the project stimulates new ways of rethinking materials and production processes.

Crafts that have symbolised thousands of years of human civilisation, drawing us away from nature through art and the mastery of fire, are here brought back to a reciprocal relationship with the living. And as in the living world, each flowerpot is manufactured slightly differently from the next, depending on the local weather conditions of the place where it’s located.

Research for Photosynthesising Flowerpots is carried out in collaboration with leading academics and institutions. Professor Hideo Iwasaki (Waseda University, JP), an expert on photosynthetic microorganisms, contributed to the biological research. Robotic arm programming and digital manufacturing were developed at the KYOTO Design Lab by Project Associate Professor Gergely Péter Barna, with production support from Tomohiro Inoue. The incubator was designed and realised through the collaboration of Thomas Ortiz and Gergely Péter Barna. Biomaterials research was conducted in partnership with Associate Professor Kazutoshi Tsuda, while archiving support was provided by Takumi Yoshida.

The project has been supported by the TOKAS International Creator Residency Program and a Production Grant from the Government of Flanders.

Work in progress: photosynthesising-flowerpots.bio