Diana Scherer0:18
My name is Diana Scherer. I'm from the Netherlands. I'm born in Germany, but I feel like a Dutch artist, and I've been in the Netherlands for 25 years. I work with plant root systems. I started about ten years ago, and what I do is I weave the plant root system, but it's not handmade. It's a collaboration with plant roots. I use mainly oats, and I use templates which are placed into the ground, and the plant roots grow and follow the templates. After a couple of weeks, I can turn the piece and harvest it, and then I have these textiles from the plant root system. So the weaving process is the growing process.
I started about ten years ago to work with plant roots. I used to work as a photographer, so I started to make photos of the work and made a series of vases. I planted about a hundred different plants in them, and I followed the movements, the way they adapted to the vase. After this series, I thought, I have to carry on. It's not enough. I want to weave the plant root system. So after a couple of years of research on plant root systems, I had the idea I could weave it. I looked at it as a yarn. For example, grass roots are very thin, like silk, and the daisy plant root system is really thick and looks a bit like wool. So I went to a university in the Netherlands that specializes in plant roots and asked them if they would be interested to help me with these projects. They said, 'Yes, we are interested. You won't work at all because it's not possible, but please come here and work with us.' So we started, and after a year we found out how to do it, and I developed this technique.
For the Biennale, I was invited by José Roca. He was interested in showing the material and process, and I was interested in showing it, but I also designed a new template, a new pattern connected to the theme of water. For example, it's a big piece lying on the ground. I decided to make a kind of big rug or floor piece with a pattern of the xylem. Xylem is the scientific name for the plant root water systems. They start at the plant roots and go to the stem, and these microscopic images of the water system of the plant I show in these templates. On the other hand, I think it's interesting that my material research is really for future sustainable and applicable material. The whole project started as an art project, but now we also do this research. It's very interesting to find out how to make it stronger and to find applications in the future.
What you see in the exhibition are all stages of the process. For example, the earth and the seeds will germinate in about two days. You see all stages of growth: a couple of days, a week, and sometimes two weeks. On the table, you see a lot of harvested material which is dried. So it's just a textile, a kind of lace grown from plant roots. At the end of the exhibition, there's this big floor piece which is still alive. How it actually starts: I use oat seeds. Oats are really the best seeds for this project. We did research on this, but it's a grass, and grass likes to be sown together, really dense. Other plant roots would hate to be grown like this; they need space and would fight below ground. Oat seeds really love to be together like this. The next step is nurturing the piece for a couple of weeks daily. At the end, I turn it and cut with a knife. I cut the roots away from the soil and dry it. Then you have these textile pieces left over.
