Exobiotanica: Botanical Space Flight by Azuma Makoto. Launching a 50-year old pine and flowers into the space.

 

Azuma Makoto, a Tokyo-based Japanese artist, has conceived an unthinkable project titled Exobiotanica. The project entails launching a 50-year old Japanese white pine and a bouquet of flowers into the stratosphere with helium balloon.  And he did it!

 

 

The artist and his team, in collaboration with  JP Aerospace, traveled to Black Rock Desert in Nevada to do the installation.  Using a large helium balloon, they launched Azuma’s artwork: a white pine bonsai tree secured in a metal frame and a bouquet of beautifully arranged flowers. The result was quite amazing.

The series of stunning photographs were seemed surreal that could only exist in a dream.  But nope, the images were real.  So was Azuma’s dream.  He finally accomplished what most of the artists could only dream of to create — artwork in space.   What a remarkable feat!

He said, “Flowers aren’t just beautiful to show on tables.”

I couldn’t agree more!

 

All images courtesy of Azuma Makoto, and published with permission.

To see more of his work, please visit his Website  |  Facebook  

via:  T Magazine

 

 

“The best thing about this project is that space is so foreign to most of us.  So seeing a familiar object like a bouquet of flowers flying above Earth domesticates space, and the idea of traveling into it.”  John Powell of JP Aerospace

 

 

The Team  and the Preparation