Floriade Highlights #1- The Flower Art Project

The international horticultural exhibition Floriade Expo 2022 will be a feast of flowers and all things green and natural. With so much to see, we are selecting a few highlights, beginning with the Flower Art Project, 'Classics & Future Moments'.

Located close to the Expo's central square, this exhibition features eight colourful gardens, each one a living artwork composed of flowering bulbs, perennials and shrubs.  “We want to show here how important planting plans are for a beautiful garden," explains Niek Roozen, landscape architect at Floriade. "In the arboretum you can see all kinds of plants with special properties, but there is no planting plan involved. At Classics & Future Moments you can see what a beautiful, modern combination of plants looks like.”

Each garden has been created by a different horticultural artist. Four are already well-known - these are the 'classics' of the show's title, Buro Mien Ruys, Jacqueline van der Kloet, Fleur van Zonneveld and Atelier Ton ter Linden. The others, Stefan Jaspers and Marcel Silkens and two students from Larenstein and Aeres, are emerging talents and represent the 'Future'.

Visitors will be able to walk past each of the artworks just as they would in a traditional gallery and, as no visit is complete with a photographic record, every garden has a small square where you can stand to take a selfie with a floral artwork as a background. “Maybe you are familiar with the photogenic flower bulb fields in Holland which are very popular with tourists," says Roozen. "We used that idea in the construction of these gardens and I can tell you that it will be very beautiful."

Discover our range of monthly Floriade 2022 tour programmes here