Plants Dance
Photo via flickr by csklein
Contrary to our conscious perception, plants do move…be it ever so slowly. sLowlife exhibition offers a window into the world of plants. It accelerates the time-scale of plants into our own frame of reference, speeding up their everyday lives to a pace that resonates with our own. For example, Sun Dance reveals sunflower seedlings as they grow and “reach” for the light, wriggling wildly as if in celebration of life. But such “festivity” is not confined to sunflowers; most plants exhibit this motion to some degree. When seedlings emerge from the soil, they search for the orientation that provides the greatest sunlight. To remain upright as they grow, they correct for the “leaning” that results from being temporarily imbalanced in the direction of light. The wobbling, circular, swaying movement (called nutation) facilitates exploration of their immediate environment.