A design group called studio PARTY developed a functional greenhouse that created a symphony of vegetables.
For this year’s 2017 Design Touch event in Tokyo, Japan, a design group is trying to make gardening edgy and hip. And it may have actually succeeded.
For the show, the design group known as studio PARTY recently unveiled a psychedelic greenhouse filled with hundreds of multi-colored LED lights and seven types of vegetables. The greenhouse, located in Tokyo’s Midtown garden space, encourages visitors to touch, smell, and “hear” plants being grown.
When visitors approach a vegetable and touch it, it triggers a series of light displays and sounds. Each vegetable has its own, unique sound, and when touched in the proper order (or more likely by a computerized system), it creates a symphony of vegetables.
The programmed light displays are meant to convey the sense of each vegetable’s growth beneath the earth, as seen through the very objective lens of an artist. The audio was created by sound artist Ray Kunimoto, who mixed recordings of seeds being rubbed, leaves being touched, and fruit being eaten with traditional instruments.
“Tomatoes are violin, carrots are trumpet, cabbages are oboe, mini radishes are flute, sweet potatoes are piano, eggplants are harp, pumpkins are clarinet,” said Kunimoto.
The greenhouse in Tokyo functions by day as a standard greenhouse, meant to encourage the growth of the vegetation. Once the sun goes down, however, the place becomes something of a nightclub, meant to entertain while simultaneously encourage people to consider growing their own vegetables.
If you are considering building your own greenhouse, this might be a little more ambitious than a standard structure meant to provide protection for vegetables and flowers, but it is always an option if you have the technical skills (and a lot of money to invest in electronic equipment). The end result will be much the same, but you will have bragging rights over other vegetable growers for life.
Assuming you cannot make it over to Tokyo to see the greenhouse (which is in the process of being dismantled now anyway), you can check out a video of it in action below and get a sense of what a symphony of vegetables would look and sound like.
でじべじ –Digital Vegetables– by PARTY from PARTY on Vimeo.