Last week, Daan Roosegaarde's 20,000 m² work of art was opening. The artwork, called GROW, is a tribute to the beauty and importance of the agricultural sector.
In the world film premiere GROW appears as a 20,000m2 luminous dreamscape of red and blue waves of light over an enormous field. GROW is inspired by scientific light recipes which improve plants’ growth and resilience.
Light recipe
GROW highlights the importance of innovation in the agricultural system: how can an advanced light design help plants grow more sustainable? How do we make the farmer the hero? GROW is an artwork and a prototype of a more sustainable way to cultivate food.
GROW consists of a design-based light recipe, which shines vertically over a 20,000 m² field of leek plants (Allium porrum). The artwork is experienced as "dancing light” on an enormous piece of farmland. The light is poetic and inspired by technologies from optics that show that certain "recipes" of blue, red, and ultraviolet light can enhance plant growth and reduce the use of pesticides to up to 50%.
Two years of development
Daan Roosegaarde and his team of designers and experts have developed GROW for two years, based on expert sessions with Studio Roosegaarde, Wageningen University & Research, Springtij Forum, and the World Economic Forum in Davos. GROW is the first artwork in a new series of dream landscapes from Studio Roosegaarde that combine art and science to create a better world.
Artist Daan Roosegaarde: "GROW is the dream landscape that shows the beauty of light and durability. Not as a utopia, but as a protopia that improves step by step."
Prof. Dr. Wargent, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer for BioLumic, international expert in plant photobiology: "GROW is a fascinating project and it is backed by scientific research that shows that specific light recipes can enhance growth and reduce the use of pesticides by up to 50%."