For this year’s contemporary art festival in Mänttä (Mäntän kuvataideviikot), an installation with flowers has been planted that is a clock, of sorts. The selected plants display a circadian rhythm with their blossoms opening and closing at particular moments of the day, and are telling the time. How do plants know time? Will we be able to read their time? The selection of plants features endemic Finnish species that are perennial. All plants are chosen to be attractive for pollinators and provide a harvest of pollen and nectar for a variety of insects like wild bees, bumblebees, beetles, butterflies and others.
“Who will pollinate the Flower Clock” is a reenactment of an inconclusive experiment from the 18th century, conducted by Carl Linnaeus. It is located in front of the Museum Pekilo, in Mänttä and can be visited from June 13th until August 31st 2021.
The work is done in collaboration with The Hotbox.
melliferopolis.net 