ABANDONED PLANTS SANCTUARY: AUTUMN REFUGE AT MGLC
22 September–21 October 2016, Lecture Room (ground floor)
Opening of the project: Thursday, 22 September, at 7 pm
Closing auction: Thursday, 20 October, at 6 pm
Abandoned Plants Sanctuary is an interactive art experiment set up by artists Anamari Hrup and
Eva Jera Hanžek about a year ago. The two artists are committed to helping abandoned plants in
urban spaces. The sanctuary takes care of potted plants that are discarded by flower shops and
supermarkets as soon as they begin to wither and become unattractive to buyers. Saving abandoned
plants left by people in rubbish bins, on the streets or anywhere ... is also their job. The sanctuary also
accepts plants into its care, which for whatever reason, can no longer be taken care of by their owners.
All plants are documented and kept at home by the authors of the project. When their capacities are
full, they establish cooperation with various public spaces (bars, shops, companies, institutions).
Individual plants may be adopted by interested parties at all points.
The project is part of The Tivoli Forum: The Green Heart of the City – the events at MGLC celebrating
Ljubljana – European Green Capital 2016.
MISSION
The aim of the Abandoned Plants Sanctuary is to spread awareness of the mutual cooperation and
effects that we have on one another and the environment in which we live, through the interactive
cooperation between different individuals and groups.
The project is in the second year of its running and is the fruit of two young artists, Anamari Hrup and
Eva Jera Hanžek.
The founders and the other members of the sanctuary operate on a voluntary basis. Through their
action, they wish to draw the attention of the urban individual to their relationship towards plants and
thus indirectly to the relationship towards all living beings. The sanctuary is committed to helping
abandoned plants in urban spaces. The plant is understood as a living being, as an entity with its own
specific needs that must be met for its contented and happy life. It is not the aim of the Abandoned
Plants Sanctuary to restrict the sale of plants in florists, nurseries or large shopping centres. Rather,
through the campaign of kindness and a different view of plants as living beings, it wishes to operate
within the current contemporary system and consider the environment that we cohabit.
The founders and the members of the sanctuary take care of the plants at private locations. They have
also established two public units, one at the Pritličje bar in the centre of Ljubljana, and another, which
operates only in summer, on the outskirts of the city at the ENEJA Institute in the Vrhovci district.
There is also the Temporary Abandoned Plants Sanctuary located at the International Centre of
Graphic Arts at the moment. A potted plant can be adopted at all locations, but only upon the signing
of the adoption contract. Visitors can also bring found plants or other plants that they no longer wish
to keep or take care of for whatever reason, and place them in the care of the Abandoned Plants
Sanctuary.
The temporary refuge at the International Centre of Graphic Arts is a living artwork that is changed
and transformed by the intervention of the artists and the participation of visitors, their growing or
withering, as well as the arrival and departure of plants. The public gallery space becomes a place for
socialization and interaction between people and plants, a safe haven to which one can withdraw from
the outside world, a greenhouse, a space for another environmentally oriented initiative, a playground,
a chapel, a living room ... or merely remains a gallery space.
OPERATION
The founders of the sanctuary add elements of art into the operation and general appearance of the
Abandoned Plants Sanctuary project. Each ward accepted into the sanctuary is documented in
different mediums by the artists, like for instance through photography, printmaking and drawing.
The prints and drawings are printed onto the adoption contract containing a photograph of each
individual plant, acting as a kind of document, the plant's identity card or certificate of its (authentic)
presence.
MAINTENANCE
The project operates on a voluntary basis and is funded solely from its own resources. For this reason,
the artists decided to make a series of products for sales from the original drawings and prints with the
motifs of their wards at the sanctuary, which contain the spirit and the idea of the art project. The
products are on sale at the exhibition to supporters of the sanctuary, lovers of art and plants, as well as
the general public. The entire proceeds from the sale of artworks and products of the Abandoned
Plants Sanctuary will go into the funding of the development and operation of the project.
GUIDELINES FOR ADOPTION
Anyone wishing to adopt a potted plant must take into account the rule of "one plant one-adopter".
Each plant, which is available for adoption, is marked with a serial number, which is the same as the
corresponding number of the adoption contract. The folder with the contracts is located in a
prominent place, beside the plant installation. Visitors wishing to adopt a plant must complete and
sign both copies of the adoption contract, leaving one copy at the reception, and taking the second one
home together with the adopted potted plant.
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION
Anyone wishing to place the plant into the care of the Abandoned Plants Sanctuary can leave it in the
wooden crate or on the base around the crate. The reason for giving the plant up for adoption and
description of the circumstances due to which the plant is being released to the sanctuary can be noted
in the notebook supplied if one so wishes. The stories will be posted on the Abandoned Plants
Sanctuary Facebook page, and will become part of the project documentation.
Milojka's Story
"My name is Milojka and I am a type of ornamental plant, the Howea forsteriana, or the Thatch palm
in ordinary language. I come from Piran, specifically from a hotel, whose name I unfortunately do
not know. I lived there in a dark and humid space, a kind of corridor to the toilet. There were a few of
us and it was very hard for everyone. We were neglected in our previous home. We almost never got
any water, I did not feel the sun's rays on my leaves even though I knew they were close. It was sadly
too late for my two fellow sufferers. I was almost at the end of my strength myself, when I arrived at
the Abandoned Plants Sanctuary.
Better days finally arrived in the sanctuary: There was always enough water, and I also began to
feel better in my stem.
Apparently a request came for me via Facebook. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr
Facebook from the bottom of my leaves. But the sanctuary was not willing to give me away just like
that. My new guardians were able to take me with them only after signing a written guarantee to
provide everything that I need for a happy life! I came to a new home, where I now feel great. They
take good care of me. I have a lot of sunlight, enough water and plant as well as human company.
I am proud to have been one of the first wards of the sanctuary, which is steadily expanding. Because
we want to meet as many people as possible that would be happy to take care of us, we are moving
to a place for socialising together with the sanctuary. This time we are being hosted at the
International Centre of Graphic Arts, where we can be adopted, and to where you can bring our
colleagues who are awaiting a similar fate as mine had been before my arrival at the sanctuary. And
when you do visit us, do not immediately rush away! We invite you to take some time and sit with us
..."