PLANTS’ SECRET WORLDS REVEALED IN AUGMENTED REALITY INSTALLATION

April 4, 2024

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – There is more to a plant than meets the human eye. With the scan of a QR code, museum visitors are transported into a field of human-sized plants where their secret lives are revealed in “Arabidopsis Symphony,” an interactive installation opening at the Anchorage Museum April 5, 2024.

Arabidopsis Symphony offers visitors a unique opportunity to explore the hidden processes of a plant through augmented reality, music, and actual live data. Created by Netherlands-based Fillip Studios, this immersive experience uses real-time, location-based data collected from Arabidopsis thaliana plants in Europe to create a captivating and ever-changing display.

What some say is the most studied plant (the ‘lab rat’ of the plant world), the Arabidopsis thaliana plant is unassuming in appearance but demonstrates remarkable abilities to adapt to various climates, weather conditions, and soil types. By manipulating genes and hormones, the plant showcases its unique ability to respond to environmental changes in real-time. In Arabidopsis Symphony, these hidden growth processes are input for an interactive experience that tells us: plants are not that different from humans after all — we are all part of the same system.

Arabidopsis Symphony is on view in the museum’s Art of the North Galleries through Aug. 9, 2024. The installation opens first Friday in April, when museum admission is free 6 to 9 p.m.

About the Anchorage Museum 
The Anchorage Museum shares the art, history, culture and stories of Alaska and the North from diverse perspectives through exhibitions, public programs, and community projects focused on people, place, planet and potential. Located in Anchorage, Alaska, the museum sits on the traditional homeland of the Dena’ina Eklutna. Learn more at www.anchoragemuseum.org.

About the Anchorage School District
Anchorage School District is Alaska's largest district, serving families in Anchorage, Eagle River and Girdwood. www.asdk12.org.