Wool, hand embroidered with yarn - both dyed with plant dyes.
Audio installation.
Tik tik tiksel is the first presentation of the chapter timegarden in the ongoing research project the garden projects, which explores weeds as a resistance to our capitalist society in three themes: play, love and time. Through researching the old common names of plants, I explore stories, rituals and customs associated with our natural flora.
Tik tik tiksel is a first exploration into the plants related to time. Swedish Botanist Carl Linnaeus hypothesised a flower clock which would show the exact time of day based on which flowers were open. Many tried and failed to turn this theory into reality as they realised that the plants are dependent on their natural cycles and environments, and not our artificial notion of time. Still, many common names refer to the times of day or weather conditions in which flowers open and close, or to stories and rituals related to time. The dandelion, for instance, is sometimes called clock flower or tiksel, after a children's game in which one "tells the time" by counting how many breaths it takes to blow all the seeds from the flower.
Each ‘pillow’ represents a plant related to time. Their appearance and common names are embroidered. The yellow are plants that bloom during the day, and the indigo are plants that bloom at night.
This installation was made for the exhibition ‘The Scope of Stories, Tracing Vernacular Landscapes’ curated by Jonathan De Maeyer, supported by Kunstenplatform Plan B, Cultuur Gent as part of the Openbare Werken program by viernulvier and Kunsthal Gent.