Zoöp Observations: Freeze-dried tomato skins
5 February 2023
This time of year there is little to experience in the New Garden. Everything has yet to get going, and therefore the garden is lacking in bright colours. For those who are satisfied with a less exuberant colour palette, there are already a few things to admire. Take for instance the tomato plant along the arcade, from which dozens of bright red cherry tomatoes hung until well into November. The plant is now dead, and clearly the fruits did not survive the freezing nights. Among the remains of the plant now lie the freeze-dried skins of the cherry tomatoes. They are the first yellow in the garden. Not as bright as daffodils, but still, I do wonder if later this year, the seeds of all these tomatoes will germinate.
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. In small vignettes, he outlines the dynamics between plants, animals, walkers, staff and other human and other-than-human presences in the outdoor space around the institute. From the return of the moorhen to the unexpected introduction of the cherry tomato.
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