For six weeks, the Dutch Flower Art Museum is displaying films and photographs about the hidden nightlife of flora. Under the title "Nocturnal Garden", several short films will be screened in which the nightlife of flora is portrayed.

Nocturnal Garden at the Dutch Flower Art Museum

From August 20 until October 4, the Dutch Flower Art Museum in Aalsmeer will be showing the work of video artist Elsbeth van Noppen. Nocturnal Garden is an audiovisual project consisting of films, stills, workshops and live VJ performances.

The filmmaker explores the intimate relationship between nighttime, humans and nature. In this way she makes the spectator part of the hidden nightlife of flowers and plants. The exhibition, containing 15 minutes of film, is Nocturnal Garden's first exhibition in a Dutch museum. Elsbeth van Noppen's work is strongly influenced by her youth in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and her work as a VJ in the well-known Rotterdam dance club Now&Wow.

About the Dutch Flower Art Museum

The Dutch Flower Art Museum, located in Aalsmeer, just outside Amsterdam, stands out among Dutch museums for being dedicated entirely to botanical art. In fact, it's the world's first museum dedicated entirely to contemporary art inspired by flowers.

Scenes of a quiet Dutch city during corona times

Visitors to the exhibition have the chance of seeing "A Midsummernight's Dream", a short movie that was filmed during the corona quarantine times in the Hortus botanicus in Leiden. When the museum gardens were closed to the public, Van Noppen was granted exclusive access to the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands.

Deep in the night, while cockroaches, toads and other creatures had the realm to themselves, the filmmaker wandered among flora and fauna from all over the world. Plants and flowers were spectacularly lit and captured in this sultry short film.

Film of a flower that only blooms one night a year

Another film portrays the nocturnal bloom of the Hylocereus Undatus, a cactus also known as the "Princess of the Night". The flower of this South Mexican plant blooms only one night a year, and then the flower withers at the first morning light.

In addition to films, the museum also shows still photographs, which are works of art distilled from the film material. 

Video artist Elsbeth van Noppen studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. Her work has been shown at film festivals, exhibitions and in clubs and museums at home and abroad. She is also active as a VJ, documentary maker and film teacher.

Plan your visit to the Dutch Flower Art Museum

The Flower Art Museum is open every Thursday to Sunday from 1pm to 5pm. Nocturnal Garden can be seen until Sunday, October 4. In this period, the museum also displays the exhibition Focus on Trees and other art.