About

Impatiens glandulifera, better known as himalayan balsam, is characterized by its explosive seed capsules, allowing for rapid spread. Originally from the himalayas, this plant species first spread through Europe in the 19th century and later globally.

The exhibition informs visitors about this plant, with a focus on its features, origin, and distribution. Information is presented statically through posters, postcards, and a pressed specimen, as well as interactively through a simulation, creating an exploratory experience.

Simulation

To illustrate exponential spread, an interactive game was programmed using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. In this game, users can determine the quantity of himalayan balsam they are planting and influence the years with a rotary knob, simulating the spread in an area of 120 square meters.

Once the field has completely been taken over, the playing sessions data is summarized, collected, and finally added to a total that represents the overall area affected by all visitors/. During the exhibition, this demonstrated the damage that can be caused by planting himalayan balsam.

Assembly

The contents of the exhibition are spanned across an untreated stainless steel tube structure. The smallest possible diameter provides high stability and strong contrasts to the glandular Himalayan Balsam through color, materiality, and form.

The structure allows for a variety of information displays that can be exploratively explored from different angles, and it also provides the possibility to project the simulation onto the table."