Reclaiming Ancient Knowledge for a Post-Carbon Future

HYDROPONIC PLANTS is a multi-sensory installation that reimagines the ancient practice of hydroponics through the lens of contemporary art and ecological consciousness. Drawing on historical precedents from Babylon, Peru, and Myanmar, the work bridges millennia of agricultural innovation, revealing how ancestral knowledge can inform sustainable futures. The installation combines living hydroponic specimens with digital photography and illuminated light boxes, creating a hybrid environment where organic growth meets technological mediation. The plants, suspended in water and light, become symbols of resilience and adaptation—thriving without soil, rooted in fluidity rather than fixity. Conceptually, the work explores the concept of cyclical time, where the past is not obsolete but regenerative. In the context of the post-carbon era, hydroponics emerges not as a novelty but as a necessity—a method that bypasses depletion and reclaims abundance. The luminous presentation evokes a sense of reverence, positioning the plants as both scientific subjects and aesthetic entities. HYDROPONIC PLANTS invites viewers to consider the intersections of biology, history, and sustainability. It transforms a utilitarian system into a poetic gesture, where cultivation becomes a metaphor for care, continuity, and the quiet power of reinvention.