Generating Plant (De Opwekker)

by Sonja van Kerkhoff + Sen McGlinn, 2004 / 7

artwork, copyrighted by Sonja van Kerkhoff + Sen McGlinn

In response to the theme of the show in the grounds of the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture, Outdoor Habitats, we decided to make a hommage to nature and in particular to the plant world. Inside each hole are images of plant kingdoms.

However the Generating Plant was more than just a display of the magic of the plant worlds. Texts under the transparent roof informed us of how clever plants had adapted to solve problems of the human world.

April 2004: In the exhibition, "Outsized Habitats"
The Museum of Design and Architecture grounds, London.

On the other side of the roof the text read:

art object by Sonja van Kerkhoff + Sen McGlinn

On one side of the roof the text read: Here energy is the currency and there's always enough to go around, enabling millions of species to live side by side, hand in hand. Such as the species that flowers when prejudice levels rise. These follicles extract prejudice from the air and concentrate it in the tubers. When the tuber breaks down, only pure images remain.

It is unique among ecosystems because anything is possible where plants co-evolve, and like many power stations that convert poisons to nutrients, it uses recycling so not a drop of water is wasted.
Diversity rules.
It is a complex productive habitat in continuous redevelopment.

artwork, copyrighted by Sonja van Kerkhoff

A nesting box for ideas and a homage to nature. Inside each hole are images of plant kingdoms. Texts under the transparent roof inform us of how clever plants have adapted to solve problems of the human world. The message is for everyone: if you want to live here, make yourself small.

Een verzamelnest voor ideeën en een hommage aan de natuur. Achter elk gaatje schuilt zich een afbeelding van een plantenrijk. De teksten onder het doorzichtige dak vertellen hoe slimme planten het hoofd boven water houden door zich aan de mensenwereld aan te passen. Het bericht is voor iedereen: Als je hier wilt leven, maak je dan klein.

In 2007 we changed the typed text to handwritten text.

artwork, copyrighted by Sonja van Kerkhoff
Exhibition in the RAP gallery, Leiden, The Netherlands, December 2007.

art object by Sonja van Kerkhoff + Sen McGlinn
Threads of the Day, Leids Wevershuis, (Leiden Museum of Weaving), Leiden, The Netherlands, 2008

Related Work

Other works by Sen + Sonja 1999 onwards
Grains of Salt box-like object with image and texts, 2000
Virtue of the Rose box-like object with image and texts, 1992 / 3

Outdoor works

Fruit, six hang cast resin forms, 2006.
Nga Hau e Wha (The Four Winds/Breaths), metal sculpture, 2004.
Generating Plant, custom-made birdhouse form, 2004.
The Wedding, intervention/installation during the 9 Dragonheads festival, 2004.
Inland Soul at Sea, 19 hanging forms, 2003.
Colonising Oxford, performances and installations on the streets, 2002.
Fruits of the Earth, installation/intervention, 2003.
With fire we test the gold and with gold we test our servants, wooden sculpture at a Sculpture Symposium in a park in Northern Romania, 2003.
Parking Spaces for Important Visitors, relief painted panels, 2001.
Inspiration, paintings on shaped canvas laid on the floor, 2001.
Just pour les oiseaux (Strictly for the birds), installations and performances during a walk through a forest setting led by a guide, 2001.
Onder vier ogen (Between you and me) , mask-forms hung on trees, with texts and images in the orifices, 2001.
Dans le jardin des beaux arts, 19 snail forms, (in various locations), 2000-2006.
The Living Creature, performances in a rose garden in a public park in London, 1999.
Change is a Law of Nature, 1996, performances on the streets, in Hull and London, U.K. (repeated in other locations in 2001, 2002, and 2004).
Memorials, ceramic tiles laid into the earth, 1996-2001.
Te Koru Iwa, fire drawing at the Oerol Arts Festival, The Netherlands, 1996.
Letters van de Levende :: Letters of the Living, 19 batiked flags, 1996.