Fictitious Plants

PLANT FICTION, 2010
Series of 5 Photographs and Texts

Troika's Plant Facts, Plant Fiction (2010) was included in The Art Institute of Chicago's  show "Hyperlinks: Architecture and Design".  
"Troika is widely known for their experiential artworks and its practice is positioned at the junction where art, architecture, and technical inventions intersect.  Notable in their formal simplicity and sense of humour, Troika's installations and sculptures engage the viewer in an often playful, sometimes contemplative manner." from Troika's website

Reading about LeNotre and Versaille lately, Troika's work caught my eye.  It's about a different kind of control over nature.  Developing GMO and the like, modern science believes in its ability to change nature, develop disease resistant species and improve our overall well-being.  Troika questions this assumption.

"Plant Fiction" turns genetically modified plants on their head. In this futuristic senario, Troika imagines... plants that would self-decompose in gain of biofuels, plants that excrete unique pigments to be implemented in security devices, creepers that can sense air-borne viruses and plants that reclain gold from electronic circuits found in landfills". from Art Institute introduction to the show Hyperlinks.

It's reassuring to know, that this troika of three are thinking about the future of our plants, not just those of us with dirt under our fingernails.

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Troika has authored two books to date:  Digital by Design and Moscow Style.
http://troika.uk.com/plantfiction