When we cultivate a garden, the contemporary moment is always very important--plants must be watered regularly--but it's not the whole picture. A garden exists within the passage of time, and the gardener must also acknowledge its past and future. The societal shift from the Contemporary to the Floraissance works in the same way: with the Anthropocene, the world becomes our garden, which we must care for. The shift to the Floraissance is necessary as symbolic ritual, such as a birthday party, to celebrate our garden and remember the responsibility that the Anthropocene has brought to us. What we did in the past and what we do today will bear fruit in our future.

How to conceive of art in the Anthropocene? Can the artist--who, since the Renaissance, has created art as nature itself--become an art-gardener, who instead of creating, cultivates? Can a museum become an art-vivarium? How can we reconsider the issues of our time in the same way we think about growing flowers in a garden?

The Floraissance is still germinating; we don’t yet know what it will become. It’s a generative process that will only will grow with time and collective participation. Sprout up!

gardener@floraissance.org