When the English botanist, Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward found that exotic plants thrive in enclosed manmade spaces in 1842, the terrarium was born. With it emerged an obsession for creating controlled environments in favour of exotic plants, so their flourishing could be enjoyed and observed. The glasshouse follows the same principles as terrariums or aquariums: it's an enclosed replica of an ecosystem with optimised conditions for its well-being.
With this enthusiasm for biotic exchange in this age of exploration, the potential danger that these environments might have on their surroundings in the geographical destination they are placed in was forgotten.
More than a century later, we are witnessing the consequences of these revolutionary, yet uncontrolled, biological experiments. Since then, invasive plants are spreading at an ever- accelerating pace due to an increased rate of exchange, and as a consequence of climate change.
Our case study is the use of invasive aquatic plants in aquariums and fish tanks. This highly problematic scenario creates an urgency for us to position ourselves as designers. The disastrous consequences of invasive plants, which originated from a quite innocent act of a curiosity towards nature in the 19th century, changed the world -immensely, but the exchange of these plants is still in full action.
The species on display are Elodea Canadensis, a north american algae invasive in europe, and Lysimachia nummularia, a local native.
In using the glasshouse as a space to portay an infernal evolution of invasive species that is still at it's very beginning, we are twisting the idea of what a glasshouse represents at its very core. By turning up heat and light levels we intend to show this entropy, a gradual decline into disorder; a lack of predictability, that has been happening for centuries.
We show an experimental approach of how an eagerness to control created the roots of a dystopia, in the very same contained environment of the greenhouse, where this fascination began.

Made in collaboration with Kiki Astner.