NY Botanical Garden Floral Exhibition

The New York Botanical Garden opened “Flower Power” on Saturday, May 23, at its Bronx campus, launching a summer exhibition built around flowers, 1960s counterculture imagery and large-scale art installations. The show runs through October 18, according to the garden’s May 19 press release. The exhibition combines botanical displays in and around the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory with gallery works, outdoor sculptures and artist-designed buses placed across the grounds. Jennifer Bernstein, the garden’s chief executive and president, said the project brings together art, history and NYBG’s plant collections in a format “that can only happen at a botanical garden of this scale and scope.” ### What exactly opened in the Bronx this weekend? “Flower Power” opened May 23 as a garden-wide exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden, with displays spread across the conservatory, lawns, library gallery and outdoor paths. NYBG said the project is organized around flowers as symbols of peace and love and draws on imagery from the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition includes a flower show, monumental installations and a gallery presentation of paintings, photography, posters and archival material from the period. (nybg.org) Time Out described it as a “groovy, garden-wide takeover,” while the garden’s own materials say the show is designed as a multidisciplinary presentation rather than a single indoor display. ### Which artists and artworks are part of it? (nybg.org) Andy Warhol is among the best-known names in the exhibition, with NYBG saying three works by the pop artist are included in the gallery presentation. The garden said Warhol’s “Flowers” from 1964 is shown alongside the photograph by Patricia Caulfield that served as source material for the work. Milton Glaser, Joe Brainard, Carlos Irizarry and Corita Kent are also represented in the show, according to the press release. (timeout.com) NYBG said the gallery is organized around themes including peace and protest, early environmentalism and the later commercialization of flower imagery. ### What will visitors actually see outside the gallery? A 15-foot-wide peace sign planted with live flowers stands near the entrance, according to Time Out’s preview of the exhibition. (nybg.org) Outdoor elements also include painted buses inspired by Woodstock-era vehicles, fabric canopies on the Conservatory Lawn and an interactive textile fence that invites visitor participation. Artist Amie Jacobsen created monumental rainbow-colored daisy sculptures inside the conservatory, while artist Snoeman designed one of the decorated buses on the grounds, according to Time Out and NY1. NY1 also reported that Mushuma, led by artist William Hochweber, created large hand-painted fabric canopies for the lawn installation known as Velora. (timeout.com) ### How does the show connect flowers to the 1960s? The Mertz Library gallery uses paintings, photographs, screenprints, collages, fashion and archival footage to trace how flowers became visual symbols in anti-war protest, environmental activism and broader counterculture movements. NYBG said first editions of Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” and Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” are also part of the presentation. (timeout.com) Jennifer Bernstein told NY1 the garden would spend the summer “celebrating the flower power movement of the 1960s throughout the grounds and in our gallery.” Helena Laporte-Burns, NYBG’s director of public programming, told the station the decade offered “such a wealth of ideas” for programming tied to music, crafts and wellness activities. ### What happens beyond the daytime exhibition? (nybg.org) Select daytime programs include live folk music, film screenings, drum circles, friendship-bracelet workshops, sound baths and guided breathwork sessions, according to a separate NYBG programming release. NY1 reported that live music performances are being curated by the Jalopy Theatre and School of Music of Red Hook in Brooklyn. Liquid Light Shows begin May 30 as a separate ticketed evening program, NYBG said. (ny1.com) The garden said the after-hours events will pair live bands with projections by Liquid Light Lab on the façade of the Mertz Library building, with Ghost Funk Orchestra scheduled for May 30 and Habibi for June 13. Public tickets are priced at $45 and member tickets at $35, according to the programming release. (nybg.org) ### How long is it running, and where can visitors look next? “Flower Power” runs through October 18 at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, according to NYBG and Time Out. The garden said tickets and the full schedule for exhibition-related events, including the May 30 Liquid Light Show, are posted on its Flower Power event page. (nybg.org) (nybg.org)