We asked the Milanese artist Lilla Tabasso if she could translate one of the old holdings in our plant book collection into her visual language. She chose one of the most important botanical works in our collection: "Hortus Floridus" by Crispijn de Passe. Creating a garden of glass flowers had always been her dream. 
For this exhibition, she created a three-part installation: wild, untamed nature, untouched by humans, met a garden domesticated by human hands – all made of glass flowers. The third part depicted a possible future after the Anthropocene in which humans are no longer on the planet, showing what it might look like if we do not take good care of nature.
The exhibition also raises questions about the influence humans have on nature, what constitutes interference with nature and how humans can benefit nature.

What pleased me most was the enthusiasm and fascination I observed in the visitors. As adults, we have often forgotten this childlike sense of wonder. This exhibition was incredibly successful in bringing a sparkle of amazement to visitors' eyes.

With this year's theme, we wanted to draw attention to gaps and things that are missing or have been forgotten, as well as breaks and empty spaces. Through her art, Lilla Tabasso transforms highly detailed yet black-and-white copperplate engravings into sensual, three-dimensional flower sculptures. In doing so, she brings this old book into the present, giving the copperplate engravings colour and three-dimensionality and filling the void.
 
 

 

The illustrated catalog illuminates this artistic bridge between nature, biology and love of detail. Two essays and an interview with the artist explain the background and connections bet