On the trail of a pollen artwork – A long-term study from the MoMA in New York
- Author(s)
- Martina Weber
- Abstract
Dust is an excellent source of pollen for forensic investigations. Pollen grains are particularly well preserved in indoor samples and can remain intact for many years or decades. A long-term experiment launched in August 2015 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York demonstrates this preservation ability of pollen in an artful way. From January to March 2013, the MoMA presented the fascinating installation “Pollen from Hazelnut” by Wolfgang Laib, an artist with a preference for using natural materials such as rice, marble, milk, beeswax, and pollen. For his installation he collected hazel pollen manually for many years in southern Germany. The artwork was presented in the “Marron Atrium” and consisted of a 30 square meter installation of bright yellow pollen, that was sieved by the artist directly onto the floor. Since August 2015, dust samples taken from unfrequented areas in the Marron Atrium have been analysed. The results showed that Corylus (hazel) pollen was still present in strikingly high numbers (up to 16 %) in the dust samples. The amount of hazel pollen in the samples has remained more or less constant over the first three years. The wind pollinated species is generally rarely planted as an urban tree in New York and is not growing in the vicinity
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
- Pages
- 44-45
- Publication date
- 2024
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106008 Botany, 106049 Ultrastructure research
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/eb15b47b-1986-467f-b546-861e319aecf1