Florilegio
2019
“A rose is a rose is a rose", wrote the American poet Gertrude Stein, later explaining that in that line the rose had been "red for the first time in a hundred years of English poetry".
But to what extent can a rose be called a rose? And if that rose were blue, would it still be a rose?
Florilegio explores this question by showing three species of flowers that have been genetically modified in recent years: blue roses, carnations, and blue-violet chrysanthemums. Studied and tested in the laboratory, the mutations are aimed at making the species more resistant, aesthetically varied and able to adapt to climate and
environmental changes.
The project is inspired by the aesthetic codes of ancient herbaria and still lives to show off transgenic flowers in all their vital power, overturning with the force of images the common view that genetically modified organisms are inherently counter-nature
and ethically unacceptable.
