A publication produced in an edition of 200 as part of the exhibition Gefährdung im Paradies (Danger in Paradise) by Dana Munro, Palmengarten, Frankfurt am Main, 25 October to 18 November 2012.
Contributors:
Ailsa Cavers
Marc Camille Chaimowicz
David Cunningham
Gerald Domenig
Susan Howe
Steve Kado
Patricia Lennox-Boyd
Louis Pierre-Lacouture
Laure Prouvost
Nora Schultz
Adrian Williams
As part of the exhibition a large press akin to a traditional plant press was constructed by Dana Munro and Clémentine Coupau to compress materials and content from a selection of international artists/writers for the three week duration of the exhibition. Each contributor developed a concept which would produce 200 items to be pressed for three weeks, the duration of the show. All the 2400 contributions were produced on site. Following the exhibition the press was dismantled and the output assembled in an edition of 200 - each unique.
The plant press was an attempt to present a physical representation of what a publication is in its most basic form - a structure which in essence compresses ideas together.
Each art work presents an idea and each is unique. STRATA is a container for these ideas and the process of its inclusion in herbaria archives is part of that container. The real consequences of this containment can only be appreciated following reflection and over time.
STRATA creates links between herbaria collections and artists' works through an exploration of the instability of how these objects are classified as their interpretations shift and change over time. Its pages adhere to the standard herbarium layout for green plant specimens, and it seeks to replicate the botanical preparation criteria for the processing and accessioning of herbarium plant archives. The circulation and induction of artists’ works into this field of knowledge allows for further forms of interpretation.
STRATA aims to be archived in herbaria around the world with each archiving one edition - current locations include Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Scotland. Digitisation accelerates the categorisation and evaluation of botanical herbaria specimens by increasing their access to specialists and generalists world wide. As herbaria are expanded and exposed to a broader cultural context and categorisations challenged, re-evaluated and refined, where will STRATA feature in the archive? Will it be re-evaluated and re-situated? STRATA in the herbarium intends to provoke, inspire and celebrate the hybrid nature of things.
With special thanks to:
Rudi-Seitz-Kunstpreis of the Frankfurter Malakademie e.V.
and the Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer - Stiftung e.V.
Palmengarten, Frankfurt am Main
Published August 2013
Design and Production © Clémentine Coupau/Dana Munro
All artworks © the artists
Printed by ES-Druck Eckhard Schön, Hanau
and HfBK Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main
A project by Dana Munro
ISBN 978-3-00-043051-0
Dana Munro, Publication, Edition of 200, 2014
