Housing Nature

"The Greenhouse Project"
The American Philosophical Society Museum

Last Spring the American Philosophical Society Museum opened the exhibit “Of Elephants and Roses,” which gave visitors insight into a time and place where no one had ever seen a giraffe or even knew what a real rose looked like. This place was 19th century France, where Empress Josephine did her best to expose the people of France to the wonders of the world—elephants, black swans, giraffes, and an assortment of exotic tropical flora in her famous greenhouse. Since the opening of the exhibit, the APS Museum has completed a new project, a modern reinterpretation of Josephine’s greenhouse called “The Greenhouse Project.”

At the heart of the project is, of course, a greenhouse. An eerie skeletal like structure installed in the APS Museum’s garden, this greenhouse is vastly different from the one that inspired it. Not only is it not constructed as a traditional glass greenhouse, it is much more eco friendly than Josephine’s, which required an exorbitant amount of fuel to heat during the winter. It does, however, have a similar purpose to Josephine’s greenhouse. Empress Josephine used her greenhouse to gain a greater understanding of nature for the time and, though we are no longer so impressed with roses, there is still a lot about nature that we don’t understand. The greenhouse aims to inspire visitors to respect nature again, specifically chaos in nature.

Accompanying the greenhouse is the “Chaotic Menagerie,” a composition by local composer Kyle Bartlett that plays as you walk through the greenhouse. “Chaotic Menagerie” is made up of multiple overlapping tracks, so that no two trips through the greenhouse will sound the same. Walking through the greenhouse once I merely heard the sound of birds chirping and some wind chimes, exactly what I’d expect to hear in a greenhouse. Another walk through I heard the sound of machines—maybe a chainsaw or even buzzing traffic, I couldn’t be sure. This completely changed the atmosphere of the greenhouse, which began to seem more mechanical and futuristic. During my final walk through I heard the trumpeting of elephants, homage to Josephine’s elephants that had music played for them in order to encourage mating.

As I walked through the greenhouse and listened to “Chaotic Menagerie,” I almost felt as if I was transported back to the time when nature still seemed exotic. Though the APS Museum’s greenhouse is highly modern and futuristic, it is also whimsical. Its unusual curves and ribcage-like structure are fascinating, and especially unique looking when compared to the hard angles of the APS Museum’s classic brick building. Bartlett’s composition is hypnotizing each time you walk through, and causes you to analyze the greenhouse differently each time you enter. Though I’m sure the greenhouse is much more alive with buzzing, colorful flowers in the spring and summer, it was still beautiful against the backdrop of a clear autumn sky. The weather outside isn’t too frightful yet, so head to the American Philosophical Society to enjoy a unique view of nature before it’s too late!     

Images courtesy of Brent Wahl and the American Philosophical Society Museum.