AMKK Paludarium: Futuristic Encapsulated Bonsai Trees by Azuma Makoto
Posted on January 26, 2021
Flower artist Azuma Makoto’s latest installation, “Paludarium Tachiko & Yasutoshi,” is in fact a collaboration between Azuma and botanical photographer Shunsuke Shiinoki. Launching off of Azuma’s previous projects, including famously sending a bonsai into outer space, he has taken the 19th century apparatus of the paludarium, reinventing it through a modern lens featuring two bonsai trees thriving inside futuristic ecospheres. The paludarium is a type of greenhouse, primarily reserved for aesthetic or scientific use, that combines terrestrial and aquatic elements serving to preserve organisms in their natural environment. Held in the fittingly minimalist, concrete slab installation space ‘StandBy’ located on the upscale Cat Street in Omotesando, the futuristic encapsulated bonsai trees are quite a sight to see. Azuma’s work is reminiscent of a near-distant dystopia stripped of nature, in which trees and plants merely exist as a figment of our imaginations, or otherwise only in self-sustaining tanks.
photo by @keita_1998
Inspired by paludariums that were used by the British in the 19th century, Azuma was fascinated by the concept of sheltering and maintaining an ecosystem outside of its original habitat in an enclosed container. Back in the day, the British would export plants from the British Isles to Australia and vice versa with the aid of these delicate glass cases.
photo by @helios.k
Azuma’s creations, Tachiko & Yasutoshi, bring the bonsais to life by mimicking the real forces of nature—water, wind, light, and sound. Encapsulated by four glass walls, the bonsai is exposed to both artificial light from above, and natural light from all sides.
photo by @padatk
The clinical and immaculate design of both the paludarium and installation space adds to the intensity of the life force that exists within the bonsai trees and the miniature ecosystems that surround them. Such themes of contrast including natural and unnatural, light and dark, and the idea of preservation seem to pervade Azuma’s works.
photo by @akihirohashikami_
This unique installation encourages the viewer to appreciate nature’s beauty up close, even as one is so far removed from nature.
photo by @chifumi_love
The bonsai bask in natural sounds and music, with two built-in speakers located on the side walls of the paludarium.
photo by @enricoy_isap
The ceiling fans bring in a constant stream of clean, flowing air that keeps the tank fresh.
photo by @yuthanan__
The flower loupe allows you to examine the intricacies of the bonsai up close as it changes throughout the course of the changing weather conditions.
photo by @yuthanan__
The devices are meticulously designed in such a way that every knob, dial, and pipe serves a specific function in maintaining the ecosystem’s optimum climactic levels to allow the plants to flourish.
photo by @kotoozaki
TACHIKO recreates elements of weather including temperature and humidity using a mist machine as well as a drip-feed water system.
photo by @chifumi_love
The viewing period for this installation ends in just under a week on January 31st, 2021. Don’t let this opportunity to pass you by!
Access:
StandBy, 5-11-1 Jingumae, Tokyo 150-0001
Train stations: Meiji Jingumae ‘Harajuku’ (3 min)/ Omotesando (6 min)/Harajuku (9 min)
Written by: Maya Kimura Watts
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