“When plants are shown in a museum, how do you know they aren’t works of art?” (Inge Meijer, 2024)
Blue flowers are moving into the Bauhaus Museum Dessau with the “Delphinium Maximum” exhibition.
But organic matter that can decay is largely at odds with the traditional museum practice of preservation. So what is the delphinium doing in the museum? Delphinium Maximum refers to an unusual exhibition by the artist and photographer Edward Steichen, who staged larkspur from his own cultivation at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1936. On the stage of the Bauhaus Museum Dessau, larkspur cut flowers of local and international origin and balloon flower sculptures by artist Sarah Oos form a contemporary reinterpretation of this artistic flower show. In keeping with the natural rhythm of the plants, the exhibition runs through different stages of blooming and fading. Based on the historical context and with a view to current debates on sustainability, Delphinium Maximum reflects on what it means then and now to want to control, optimise, commercialise – and ultimately shape – a plant species.
Exhibition opening
Sat, 17. 5. 2025, 4 – 6 p.m.
