andrew s. yang

As the Earth changes faster than life can keep up, scientists seek biodiverse possibilities for the future. The greenhouse, called the “Gleanhouse,” celebrates the crucial role seed banks play in such efforts. They act a living repositories for landscapes—such as the tallgrass prairies—that are under threat. Like libraries cataloging books of nature in the form of genetic texts wrapped in seeds, seed banks like the one at the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) play a vital role in the continuity of living knowledge. Papier-mache versions of seeds held and the CBG seed bank line the shelves of the Gleanhouse along with books the celebrate the tallgrass prairies.

 

Dice throughout the Gleanhouse speak to the uncertainty  of future landscapes, but also the chance for new growth that each individual seed represents. Open the drawers Prairie Librarie, and find packets of such dice, seeds, as well as collaged catalog cards. 

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If we represent biodiversity as a spectrum of colors, then seed banks are like prisms that help bring about ecologically diverse landscapes—the multicolored clusters of bamboo poles convey that genetic diversity, which is always in flux.  The dispersal and crossbreeding of rare plants gives rise to more genetically diverse—and thus more resilient—plant populations into the future.

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Commissioned by the Chicago Botanic Garden for their exhibition Lost & Found. For more on the project, see the video below—

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