Phipps’ Summer Flower Show: Gardens of Sound and Motion Invites Guests on a Spectacular Sensory Adventure
Look and listen as interactive soundscapes, visual art and kinetic motion installations bring this stunning show to life.
Delight your senses at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens’ Summer Flower Show: Gardens of Sound and Motion. Featuring contemporary installations by artists from Pittsburgh and beyond, this unique new show immerses you in a colorful world of eye-catching, interactive art, music and sounds. The whole family will enjoy this thrilling sensory adventure, surrounded by summer blooms, surprises and special effects!
“Continuing the sensory themes of our shows this year, Summer Flower Show offers colorful summer flowers paired with unique sensory experiences in each of our display rooms,” says Associate Director of Exhibits and show designer, Jordyn Melino.
In each seasonal display room, guests can experience the work of artists like Lyman Whitaker, Jakob Marsico and Jesse Stiles through sight, sound and touch. Each unique display is complemented by beautiful horticultural displays.
“‘Surreal’ is the word that inspired and informed my planting designs for the rooms, and the reason why I sought out artists who could bring different perspectives and talents to the show,” says Melino. “We wanted these installations to feel immersive, and the addition of soundscapes or art in motion really transforms each space.”
A dynamic audiovisual installation will enchant guests in the South Conservatory. A network of lights entwines around the branches in the canopy of trees overhead, reacting to an evolving soundscape created by Jesse Stiles. Six umbrella flower sculptures stand below surrounded by actual umbrella plants (Schefflera ‘Amate’) and plantings in pinks, purples, peaches and yellows.
Wind sculptures created by renowned artist Lyman Whitaker will mesmerize guests in the Sunken Garden. The supersized copper creations make beautiful, complex patterns with each gentle breeze, enhanced by blue, green and white plantings.
Guests can create their own fountain show complete with a musical soundtrack in the Victoria Room, making water dance in an interactive installation by artist Jakob Marsico of Ultra Low Res Studio. With a simple touch of the hand, guests can control the height of the fountain jets in the center pond.
Opening Sat., April 28, Summer Flower Show: Gardens of Sound and Motion was designed by Associate Director of Exhibits Jordyn Melino and features the work of Lyman Whitaker presented by Leopold Gallery, Jesse Stiles, Jakob Marsico of Ultra Low Res Studio and the Experimental Sound Synthesis students of Carnegie Mellon University. Hours are 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily and until 10 p.m. on Fridays. Admission is $17.95 for adults, $16.95 for seniors and students, and $11.95 for children 2 – 18. Members and kids under 2 enter free.
About Phipps: Founded in 1893, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, Pa. is a green leader among public gardens with a mission to inspire and educate all with the beauty and importance of plants; to advance sustainability and promote human and environmental well-being through action and research; and to celebrate its historic glasshouse. Phipps commemorates its 125th anniversary throughout 2018, celebrating its historic past, vibrant present and exciting future ahead — including inspiring seasonal flower shows, community events, public programs and groundbreaking green innovation.
Learn more at phipps.conservatory.org.