The Impossibility of Containment (The Wardian Case)

This installation is inspired by the history of the ‘Wardian Case’, a terrarium-type travel box for plants tried out for the first time in 1833, when British ferns were sent to Australia and Australian ferns were received back, and miraculously they all survived. This innovation led to a proliferation of moving plants around the globe, sometimes with huge unintended consequences. The emphasis here, though, is the plants’ ability to survive and thrive despite any human intervention.