The Flower Clock at the Rauma Museum

Flower Power at the Rauma Art Museum

One of the featured art exhibits at the Rauma Museum in Finland during their Flower Power (Rauma Biennale Balticum 2008) art festival is the Flower Clock by artist Bjorn O. Olsson. The concept is based on the Flower Clock Phenomenon (Horologium Florae) which was according to the observations of Carl von Linne during the mid-18th century, wherein plants react to light as precisely as a clock ticks every second.

Well, not only are plants affected with light in a precise way, humans are more responsive to different sources and types of illumination. This is why lighting plays an important role in designing a home’s interior and exterior. Whether you need some mood lighting for your bedroom or task lighting for the home office, the lighting fixtures you choose matters a lot. Browsing on some wall light fixtures at Lighting and Living can be a source of inspiration for home lighting projects. You can get some ideas from their lighting articles on the Design Tips section as well. Their wide range of lighting products and accessories is a good online shopping resource for designers and homeowners.

During our visit at the museum, we were in such a hurry so I wasn’t able to truly appreciate the concept behind the plant’s shadows being projected on the screen. Looking closely, one can see the plant’s vase mounted on a rotating axis in the cube. For a day, the revolving plant makes one cycle. The shadows projected to the screen indicate the detail in the movements of the plant’s leaves throughout the day just as a sundial changes the shadows it casts as time passes by.