The United Nations General Assembly declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH). We thought that this would be a good opportunity to get young adults to think about plants as more than the source of the air we breathe and the food we eat. 

Plant-like life has been around for about 3000 million years. They have witnessed the birth and death of species, have travelled across continents on the heels of explorers, seeded cultures around the world and may soon become the first species to colonise mars. Humans have tamed them in farms, laboratories and green houses and extracted cures to epidemics as well as sources of addiction. We can only imagine what the plants of the future will look like as we race towards editable genomes, bionics and Food for All!

Interestingly, new research suggests that plants are social and problem-solving without self- consciousness and neuronal activity that we assume are needed for intelligence. The hidden lives of these silent and stationary beings have long been the subject of human curiosity and continues to excite our creativity and inform design and technology today.

For its first digital pop-up exhibition – PHYTOPIA -- Science Gallery Bengaluru brought together artists, engineers, scientists, designers, and biohackers to create an experience where visitors could explore and experiment beyond the kitchen, the lab and the farm.

Exhibition Themes and Artworks
All our programmes and exhibits were categorised under six themes that represent plants beyond their utilitarian and aesthetic value. We invited our visitors to think about the ways in which plants are embedded within our language, histories, culture and imagination. 

Raw
Artists and researchers manipulate the innate properties of plants through technology to expand the meaning of what is considered natural.

Remedial 
What can we learn from the dynamic behaviour of plants -- how they gather information about their surroundings and are attentive to changes in it?

Radical 
A homage to the visionaries at the root of pioneering discoveries about the plant world.  

Rooted 
Plants are not just mere props or the green background to life, but the very force that enables it. We examine how plant-human interactions have shaped societies for millennia. 

Resilient 
Change and disturbance are an integral part of life, but some agents -- both human and vegetal -- endure disruptions far better than others.  

Regenerative 
The resilience of plants animates our language, culture and imagination -- how do we understand their relevance beyond aiding human activity?