The Fairy Empire
Public installation at Motol University Hospital, Prague Commissioned by 4+4 Days in Motion Contemporary Art Festival
The audacious thought of the necessary imperfection of all creation. Gershom Sholem
Humans have dramatically increased the rate of species transfer between distant locations to the point where it could be argued that, as a result of globalization, we are in fact "unifying the biological world" to create a "New Pangea”.
Elizabeth Kolbert
The main theme of Adam Vackar's installation is the plants of the Giant Hogweed, one of the symbols of the colonization of nature by man. Giant Hogweed was brought to Europe in the early 19th century to the Royal Gardens of Kew Gardens in London and was intended to be an exotic ornamental plant at the royal gardens of the time. During the Second World War, it was released into the wild and infested much of Europe and other continents. The Giant Hogweed is a very active, fast reproducing invasive plant which has evolutionary interests quite different from those of plants intended for decoration and ornamentation of castle gardens. This expanding plant has an indomitable life force, reproduces very quickly, dominates habitats and also causes burns when touched by bare hand. Because of its spread, botanists have begun to monitor and regulate its presence, and some countries are spending large amounts of money to eradicate it. Cultivation of the Giant Hogweed is now legally prohibited in most European countries.
Adam Vackar's installation thematically turns to this plant as a metaphor for thinking, in which we ask questions of dominance and freedom, migration, the originality of species, respect for living organisms and their manipulation.