Finding the words is another step in learning to see.
— Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Moss embassy project aims to offers a unique, immersive experience that bridges art and science to deepen public understanding of contemporary environmental challenges. By connecting three global sites through electronically linked moss installations, this research-creation project invites visitors to engage with the often-overlooked world of mosses, which play a critical role in fragile ecosystems.
Our goal is twofold: to foster a new way of perceiving plant life, particularly mosses, and to address the environmental education gap. Through a blend of scientific data collection and artistic expression, we propose a “connected garden” that brings together multiple sites, starting with the Jardin Botanique de Montréal, to create a network of moss installations. These sculptural and electronic devices monitor the conditions that support moss growth—such as soil microbiome, temperature, and humidity—and transmit this information to installations at exhibition sites. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience in situ how these conditions affect the life of mosses, creating a direct, sensory relationship with this often unnoticed but vital form of life.
At the heart of our project is the desire to challenge “plant blindness”—the human tendency to overlook the plant world—and provide a new lens through which to appreciate mosses as more than primitive or minor plants. Mosses, particularly those in circumpolar regions, are critical indicators of environmental health, sometimes called the “canaries in the coal mine” of climate change. Through interactive and aesthetic engagement, visitors will gain a deeper appreciation for these non-vascular plants, which have survived for 450 million years, and learn about their crucial role in biodiversity.
The Connected Garden Experience
Each of the three sites—Finland, Chile, and Canada—hosts emissive moss installations that monitor and document the conditions necessary for moss growth. These are linked to receiver installations in botanical gardens, where the data informs the environment, adapting factors like humidity to simulate the natural habitats of the mosses. This critical gardening approach fosters not only ecological understanding but also a shift in perspective—moving away from purely anthropocentric views towards a sympoietic, or co-creative, relationship with plant life.
The Ambassade des Mousses invites visitors to step into a world where art, science, and education come together to promote an aesthetic of environmental awareness. By observing, touching, and listening to the mosses, visitors are encouraged to rethink their place in the natural world and to cultivate a relationship with these delicate life forms that often go unnoticed but are crucial in understanding the complexity of the ecosystems we inhabit.