Written by: Gabriel Castillo | Published on: July 25, 2021 at 4:00 PM PHT (GMT+8)
Art museum TeamLab Planets Tokyo DMM, located in Toyosu, Tokyo, celebrates its third anniversary this summer by introducing a fantastical orchid flower exhibit called Floating Flower Garden which showcases a little over 13,000 orchids and two brand new, original blue-colored Phalaenopsis aphrodite orchids. These unique beauties are the first of its kind by the efforts of Japanese digital art collective teamLab Planet. Currently, there are no plans to sell them publicly and anthophiles will have to see the marvelous orchids personally at teamLab Planet.
The Phalaenopsis aphrodite is a species of orchid commonly found from southeastern Taiwan to the Philippines. These never-before-seen orchids, which bloom for around a month, are named Phal. ‘teamLab Moonlight Star’ (left) and Phal. ‘teamLab Sunshine Star’ (right) in cooperation with Haruhiko Kato of the Lama Orchids Center.
The entire exhibit, based on a theme of “a museum in the water and the garden integrating with flowers”, has a total of nine works including massive exhibit spaces and two display gardens. The three-dimensional mass of flowers floats up above visitors and descends as they move; this mechanic allows people to move around in a room filled with flowers. This magical installation hopes to immerse people in flowers and become one with the garden. Learn more about the exhibit through their website and the video below.
The flowers in the air are epiphytic orchids, which are quite common in the orchid family, and they have the ability to grow without soil by using modified aerial roots that absorb humidity. What spurred such an evolutionary tactic which allows plants to survive outside of soil? It is said that Orchids are some of the last plants to appear on Earth and, since the soil was already saturated with other species, they evolved to live where others could not. In fact, orchids adapt quickly and there are approximately 25,000 to 30,000 species in the wild making them one of the most diverse family of flowering plants.
Sources: PRTimesJP, GrapeJp, teamLab Planet Website
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