Sirpa Jokinen: Keskusteluja kasvien kanssa (Conversation With Plants), 2008

Completion year: 2008

Technique: installation

Keywords: ääni installaatio, sound installation

Conversations with Plants, 2008
sound installation at the Botanical Gardens of Helsinki,
plants, ceramic flower pots, pietzo elements,two separate soundtracks

Several people were asked to talk to plants as well as a permission to be recorded while they did the talking. In the beginning it was hard to find participants but as soon as I learned the right kind of people to be asked there were no more problems.
The conversations are in Finnish, Estonian, Swedish, English, French, Parsi, Japanese and Korean.
In these conversations the plants are asked if they are thirsty or lonely and if they have any memories. The cactuses are also accused of moving the rocks around them at night and just pretending to be motionless. They are recited a sonnet by Shakespeare. There is also singing, humming, crying, laughing and whistling to the plants and of course sounds of water.
The sounds come out of 16 units of ceramic flower pots that serve as speakers. The pots are placed among the plants in the desert room of the University Botanic Gardens in Helsinki. Each ceramic pot has a piezo disc attached to its bottom. The tallest of the pots is 70cm and the smallest 12cm. The nicest echoing sound comes from the tall and narrow pot.

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