At Rome’s Botanical Garden, a week of insights on the future of plants and humans
“Bio-Tech Planet: Future of Plants and Humans” event brings together a group of innovators and experts to begin a new constructive dialogue with the vegetable realm
We find ourselves at a crucial moment. Climate change, the degradation of natural resources, including air and soil quality and a growing human population put our global, societal and environmental systems – our future – under serious threat.
How can we steer the ecological hazardous curve towards a viable, acceptable future for plants and humans? How can we prevent further crises? Looking for inspiration and effective solutions we turn to plants, to Biotech, to AI, and more. Through plants we can learn the previously unknown and correct our mistakes.
Through Biotech we can drive plants and humans to the future.
Through AI we can gain efficient support for our mission. By opening our minds and responsibly developing the boundless possibilities of technology we hope to sustain Our Bio-Tech Planet and the Future of Plants and Humans.
Save the date: 24-30 October 2022!
Our Bio-Tech Planet: the Future of Plants and Humans (OBTP) sprouts in Italy’s capital between October 24th and 30th, burgeoning, in turn, a series of cross-disciplinary art/science/technology workshops, talks, panel discussions and an art exhibition
Organized by the Berlin-based art/science/tech organization Art & Science Node (ASN) in conjunction with the EU Chic Innovation Consortium (CHIC), the event explores our present with an eye to the future, posing the delicate questions that are proving increasingly necessary in today’s fraught world.
Held at Rome’s majestic Botanical Garden, the event dare now to approach the QUESTION of the future by engaging top EU scientists, world-renowned chefs and internationally acclaimed artists. Each will partake in panel discussions, workshops and our art exhibit, including Rhizosphere: the Big Network of Small Worlds, to support the CHIC project.
Question the future of plants and humans
Our Bio-Tech Planet: Future of Plants and Humans (OBTP) event brings together a broad international and multigenerational group of innovators and experts in the fields of art, food, health and agriculture in Rome’s historic Botanic Gardens to begin a new constructive dialogue with the vegetable realm.
The intercultural, cross-disciplinary art/science/technology event invites us to reflect upon the interdependence of plants and humans and our combined future through daily panel discussions and workshops, live performances and an art exhibition,
The multimedia, international, cross-disciplinary art/science/tech event Our Bio-Tech Planet invites us to QUESTION the Future of Plants and Humans.
How can we use innovation in biotechnology to access the power of plants and forge a better future for us all?
Our Bio-Tech Planet: Future of Plants and Humans (OBTP) sprouts from a five-year-long collaboration between ASN and our 16 partners in the EU Horizon 2020 supported Chicory Innovation Consortium (CHIC) which offers a platform for interdisciplinary collaborations between top EU scientists, artists, food experts and the general public.
The intercultural, cross-disciplinary art/science/technology event invites us to reflect upon the interdependence of plants and humans and our combined future through daily panel discussions and workshops, live performances and an art exhibition.
Vegetation systems and biodiversity, the future of agriculture, nutrition & health, Genetic Modification (GMO) and New Plant Breeding Techniques (NPBTs), life on another planet and interspecies communication are thrown into focus through this varied, interactive event. Artworks that span from molecular orchestration to novel “Urplflanze”, sensual interactions to virtual intelligent networks and micro-landscapes to interstellar wonderings will cover ground-breaking innovations and invite the public to engage in relevant, contemporary discussions, expanding imaginations and inspiring bold visions.
Our Bio-Tech Planet: Future of Plants and Humans dares to seek answers to uncomfortable questions through innovative communication strategies in which art becomes the language of scientific expression.
Rome’s Botanical Garden
In the heart of Rome, it is a magical place where to walk away from the chaos of the city, and enjoy the spectacle represented by the extraordinary variety of the plant world preserved here.
Among the largest in Italy, the Botanical Garden of Rome is located in the park of Villa Corsini, once the residence of Christine of Sweden, and on part of the Horti Getae, archaeological area formerly constituted by the Baths of Septimius Severus.
The Botanical Garden is fully part of the tradition of gardens with an important scientific and naturalistic value, such as that of the Vatican, first example of a botanical garden.
The current Garden covers 12 hectares and preserves naturalistic varieties from all over the world. Its collections are of particular interest not only for the scientific importance but also for the way the environments are cultivated and reconstructed. This can help you in the difficult work of placing the species in the areas of origin. Among the main collections, you can admire the monumental secular trees, such as the eastern plane trees, cork oaks, downy oaks, Himalayan cedars, and over 300 examples of more than 130 species.
The bamboo collection is among the richest in Europe; the Mediterranean forest, mainly consisting of oaks, testifies instead to the vegetation that once covered the Gianicolo Hill. Also noteworthy is the collection of Gymnosperms such as sequoias, conifers, pines, firs, larches, cedars of Lebanon, cypresses, and junipers.
Among the most fascinating glasshouses – more than 2,000 square meters – we find about 400 orchid species like the common Cattleya, the Moth, and the Vanda, an orchid from South-East Asia with a very long stem. The Serra Corsini, dating back to 1800, displays many examples of succulent plants.
The Japanese Garden, with its cherry trees, camellias and magnolias, presents evocative plays of water, small waterfalls and two enchanting ponds.
In the Mediterranean Garden, you can observe the Mediterranean maquis typical species, in the Herb Garden, the medicinal plants, and in the Valletta delle Felci, a collection of herbaceous ferns. The collection of Palm trees presents a large number of specimens and rare examples. It has been included in the red lists of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The tropical greenhouse, with strictly controlled temperature and humidity, has been organized in themed areas that testify to the great biodiversity of tropical forests.
What next for the Future of Plants and Humans? Come visit “Our Bio-Tech Planet: Future of Plants and Humans” at Rome’s Botanical Garden from Oct 24 through Oct 30 and find your answer, or contribute to design one.
Maker Faire Rome – The European Edition has been committed since its very first edition to make innovation accessible, usable and profitable for all. This blog is always updated and full of opportunities and inspiration for makers, makers, SMEs and all the curious ones who wish to enrich their knowledge and expand their business, in Italy, in Europe and beyond.
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