Impact

FLOWER POWER NOW!

The Garden Display’d by Rebecca Louise Law.

Courtesy of Rebecca Louise Law. “The Garden Display’d.”

Flowers change every space -- softening, brightening, adding art and emotion. They also instantly make a space interactive. They tempt you to look, smell, touch and taste. You are impacted.

We’ve found three magnificent new floral art installations that invite you to experience flowers more intensely.

1. REBECCA LOUISE LAW’S SUSPENDED FLORAL INSTALLATIONS

Rebecca Louise Law, creates monumental flower installations.

Her latest work, “Flower Garden Display’d" was recently on exhibition at London’s Garden Museum, as part of their Fashion & Gardens show.

There is an upside down garden, with over 4,600 flowers hanging from their stems, blossom-side down, overhead. Law’s Floral Chandelier trails blossoms all the way down to the floor.

One of Law’s goals is to deepen the connections between humans and nature. Law has also created floral installations for brands such as Hermes, Cartier, and Salvatore Ferragamo.

2. SOLAR POWERED ‘FLOWERS’ BLOOM AT NIGHT IN SCIENCE CENTER

Flowers, over 33 feet tall and 20 feet wide, have sprouted up from the ground at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. And they bloom at night!

In daylight, the translucent red petals of the flowers appear to light up as sunlight shines through them.

Their flowerheads are formed from solar panels and the flowers are tied to the electricity grid, so their brightness is consistent over the five-plus hours each night that they shine.

The project is energy neutral. Sometimes they draw energy, in winter, when the sun is scarce. But during the summer months, extra energy is used to power other systems at the Center.

Artist Dan Corson created this unusual flower art installation: “Sonic Boom,” to remind the people of Seattle that solar power is viable, even if it rains a lot. He also wanted to prove that not all solar projects are visually ugly.

Alternating green and orange bands on the flower stems are arranged to contain a bar-coded message. Corson is leaving it for viewers to decipher.

Made of metal and fiberglass, the flowers change tones and flicker. Inspired by the most exquisite Australian firewheel tree, Corson designed these flowers so that they can adjust themselves to capture the sun.

3. JEFF KOONS SCULPTURE OFFICIALLY COMING TO 30 ROCK

It you want to see what 50,000 flowers look like, all bunched together, you can check out the massive, living art installation called the “Split-Rocker,” by Jeff Koons, now stationed in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

“Split-Rocker” is composed of two halves: one based on a toy pony of one of Mr. Koons’s sons, the other based on a toy dinosaur. Together, they form the head of a giant child’s rocker. It is covered with live flowers, in this case petunias, begonias, impatiens, geraniums and marigolds, to name a few.

It is supported by 144 stainless steel irrigation systems, all perfectly hidden beneath masses of plants and soil. This 150-ton sculpture can flourish entirely on its own.

Attracting bees and birds and people, the “Split-Rocker” creates a beautiful and rather out-of-place ecosystem in the concrete jungle. Prior to its NY home, the floral sculpture lived in Basel, Switzerland.

The public viewing of Split Rocker coincides with the opening of the Koons retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, from June 27th to October 19th, 2014.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Flowers in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 07.13.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!