“Biophilia” turns nature into high-tech therapy with DAM

The Denver Art Museum's new “Biophilia” offers what people want from art exhibitions these days: multisensory objects that burst with vibrant colors, glow before your eyes and change shape and posture in response to every body movement in the room.

It's an interactive, high-tech event, a far cry from the traditional exhibition of pretty paintings on a gallery wall. Biophilia is a cool show to be out at on a hot summer's day.

Consider “Meadow,” an installation created by Dutch design team Drift: “Advanced robotics and complex software create a flower field in constant motion.” The piece is made up of dozens of pendant lamps shaped like fluffy flowers, whose fabric petals open and close in a rapid rhythm to reflect the change from day to night.

Low, flat sofas are positioned on the gallery floor, directly beneath the artworks, allowing visitors to lie on their backs and gaze at the light show suspended from the ceiling.

According to the museum's sign, its purpose is to reflect and reconnect with nature, which means “Meadow” fits right in with the overall theme of “Biophilia”: showing how designers and artists respond to nature.

As an exhibition concept, there is nothing profound or new about it: nature has always been a major theme in design, perhaps the most enduring source of inspiration that has ever existed, and there is a journey through millennia of art, textiles, fashion and furniture history to prove it.

Later in the game, you can start with floral medieval tapestries, stop randomly at floral wallpaper by beloved 19th century British designer William Morris, and end your journey where “Biophilia” begins: a display of floral runway gowns by Iris van Herpen, one of fashion's brightest stars today.

What's almost new is the use of technology in the making and display of many of the pieces. Previously, clothing designers relied on silk and wool produced by the animals themselves. Van Herpen's dresses are made from laser-cut Mylar and cotton “hot-glued to organza.” The dresses are phenomenal: bouncy, sexy, comfortable, lighter than air. There could be more dresses in this show.

Curated by the museum's design curator Darin Alfred, “Biophilia” features a variety of objects, including bowls, tables, sofas, and chandeliers. Fans of what museums typically refer to as decorative arts will find plenty to like, including familiar materials like the delicate marble “Tau” vase by the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid and the glass “Fungus” vase by Czech designer David Wallner.

Also on display are a wool rug by Argentine weaver Alexandra Quehayoglu that resembles a topographical map of the Amazon rainforest's threatened lands, and “Bulbo,” a bright red leather chair in the shape of a flower bud, by Brazilian brothers Humberto and Fernando Campana.

But visitors are more likely to be glued to the digital, or interactive, attractions, which are the star of the show. They include “Flowers and People – A Year Per Hour,” a 2020 work by Tokyo-based art collective TeamLab. The work is a six-channel digital projection of an animated field of pink and yellow petals that drifts across the gallery wall. It comes with instructions for the viewer: “Stand still at a certain distance, and the flower will grow more lush. Move around, and the flower will wither.”

Again, the purpose is quite simple, even mundane: to suggest that humans and nature are inseparable. The work doesn't break any new artistic or intellectual ground, but it is exciting to look at and fun to play with.

Biophilia's greatest success is in its ambition: curator Alfred has deep knowledge of the international design scene and has brought in some of the most respected and in-demand global designers. Alongside van Herpen and Drift, there's also the “Lemorten” stool and table by Chilean design firm gt2P, made from crushed local volcanic rock used as a ceramic glaze.

There's also Spanish designer Nacho Carbonell's “One-Seater Concrete Tree,” a table-lamp combo that visitors can actually sit on and take photos in; the petal-covered “Hortensia” armchair by Argentinian artist Andres Reisinger, known for his digital work; and a model of the Nanjing Zendai Himalayan Center, an urban design masterpiece by Beijing-based MAD Architects, which resembles a mountain landscape with the silhouettes of a series of skyscrapers interlocking together.

MAD is the same firm that designed One River North, a new residential building that just opened in Denver's Reno neighborhood with a huge canyon cut into its facade, which gives the exhibition a hometown charm.

Similarly, there is a striking architectural model of a building currently under construction next to Denver's Civic Center called Populous (designed by Chicago's Studio Gang), which resembles the trunk of a poplar tree, and the model offers new insights for anyone interested in the thinking behind the building.