Botanicalls Kit
-2006 -Rob Faludi, Kate Hartman and Kati London -Interactive Telecommunications
When I first see Botanicalls kit in exhibition of Wikitopia, I asked if this is a piece of artwork but not just an invention. Would people define the creation of light bulb by Thomas Edision as art but not just invention?
After doing research about this, I realize that the kit is involved in a project called “Botanicalls” and The Museum of Modern Art’s Architecture & Design Acquisition Committee has approved the addition of Botanicalls to the MoMA permanent collection. Botanicalls is an ongoing collaboration between a group of artists including Rob Faludi, Kate Hartman, and Kati London. 
The artists have very artistic initiation-inventing new avenues of interaction. Botanicalls kit is an art product of interactive telecommunications which bridges the communicative gap between human and plant. The kit involves sensor that detect the environmental changes and data translator to give signal to modem and send it out in form of human language.
Artists created it with humor. It is an interesting artwork. The plants can have our number and make phone calls. It is obvious that the artists intend to promote successful inter-species understanding via telecommunication technology. However, what I see from this artwork is not just about communication.
Do the kit really helping us to interact with plants effectively? To treat a plant with a man-made tool, system errors are inevitable. The tool is as comprehensive as careful observation by human. Detecting the soil water content is not enough to tell the situation of the plant. The water content of plant may also be affected by many other environmental changes. Why don’t we use our inborn sense organs to communicate with plants, but depends on technology? To know if a plant is thirsty or not, we can pay more attention on the plants and observe the condition of the plants. We also have to be patient and careful to remember the time of watering. These are the basic and natural ways for human to treat plants well. It seems that depending on technology makes human forget how to use their inborn organs to sense the tiny changes in nature. The spirit of treating plant patiently and sincerely is vanishing.
The advanced technology is actually broadening the gap between human and nature rather than bridging them. Although this is just a small tool that making small convenience for human, it won’t cause such a great change to the world, it shows human would depend on man-made tools rather than sense the nature with their heart.
Do human really care how the plants feel about applying technology creation on them? To treat a plant with a man-made tool may be disfavor for plants. It is human thinks that the kit is suitable and helpful for the life of plant. Humanization is applied in the concept of Botanicalls kit. Calling and texting are actions only done by human but not animals or plants. The kit helps the plants to voice their requirements like what human can commonly do. Actually, animals and plants have their ways to express themselves. They have their own “language”. For example, if the plants are lacking of water, they will wilt. People who observed the wilting will then help the plant. Unfortunately, this natural human skill of interacting with plant is degenerating. Human is just forcing the plants to use the common human methods of communication.
This shows the self-importance nature of humanity. Human has made great progress in technology and wants to use man-made creations to challenge and break the nature rules. Seldom do human really take the consequence of their behavior on the nature to heart.
To answer the question I have mentioned in the introduction: if this simple invention is also an appreciable artwork? I would like to say “Art is anything that evokes a train of thought”. Bontanicalls is a simple and creative invention, and is also a piece of innovative contemporary artwork. Different audiences may have different thoughts about an artwork. We can appreciate them with different angles. The invention makes people to aware about the relationship between human and plant. The concept of it has evoked a train of thoughts about the selfishness of human and the dependence on advanced technology upsetting this relationship in my mind. As the artwork really impressed us to think and helps the artists to express their message, though I share different point of view with the initiation of the artwork, it is a successful artwork.
