Looking for Stigmergy presents the installation Sempitèrno, a tridimensional composition of one of the most famous flowers in the world — the tulip. A flower of many colors and variations which empathically has been stimulating humankind's eyes and emotions as much as the politics of its productions. The Tulip, is the flower symbol of two countries, The Netherlands and Turkey which economic value mutated in centuries from being an expensive traded bulb to a mass produced natural and artificial “subject”of interest, inspiration, representation and consumption —consequently inspiring industrie, creativity, supply chains and markets both at a local and a global scale.
Sempitèrno reflects on how natural events simultaneously trigger or are appropriated by new economies, market sectors and speculative narrative where empathy plays a fundamental role. The narrative confronts the Semper Augustus —one of the virus mutated tulip varieties in the 17th century — with the cultural legacy and its derived images cumsumption left behind its extinction. Being the historical Tulipmania of a well known and diffuse narrative, the project starts looking for the links between the natural environment and global supply chains via contemporary markets. Tulips are possible to be found in the shape of bulbs, flowers, vases, souvenirs, lamps, pixels, decorative tiles and cultivated lands.
A project by Minji Choi and Martina Muzi with the local production of Supernormal Studio.
