TulipTopia

Single channel video, 5’04’’,
2022

What if the future of bio-design is set in a space where there are no longer any biological entities—a world in which living tulips have gone extinct, leaving only digital replicas to mimic their beauty within a virtual realm? 

Focusing on tulips, the quintessential symbols of the Netherlands, this collaborative research project investigated the impact of the cut flower industry that lies behind the beauty of these blooms, revealing its effects on the depletion and degradation of soil nutrients—in particular the consequences of industrial monocultures, along with the widespread use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

In response, our team created a speculative video that transports us to the year 2070, telling the melancholic story of the tulip’s gradual decline. This is a time when real tulips have become a rarity, and the majority can only recollect memories of vibrant blossoms through digital replications.

“Sadly I realize, I’ll never see the biological decaying process again. I still have my digital replication that decays, but it’s just not the same. Today I spend hours observing the slow process of the tulip transforming. It reminds me of the time before the mass extinction and all the memories I have of the tulip.”

—from someone’s diary in 2070



This project is in collaboration with:
Freja Nielsen, Marie Kang, Monika Litzinger, Monja Simon, and Nawon Koo.