Zoöp Observations: Cherry tomato
28 August 2022
For some time now, a plant has been growing in the sandy bed along the arcade that was by no means deliberately sown or planted there. It concerns a cherry tomato, the Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme.
It's not hard to imagine how the plant got here. One of the photos provides a clear clue: paper bags from a well-known fast food restaurant. Apparently someone ate a hamburger under the arcade, and a slice of tomato accidentally “escaped” from the burger. Or perhaps the unidentified fast food lover didn't like tomato and simply threw the slices away. Species that are unintentionally dispersed by humans are referred to as 'adventive species'.
Artist Frank Bruggeman, in collaboration with researcher and author Peter Zwaal, describes what he sees happening in The New Garden since spring 2022, when the Nieuwe Instituut officially became a zoop.
Read other observations