Büropflanze by Saskia Groneberg
A photobook by German photographer Saskia Groneberg.
This work is a study of the plants that thrive in German offices. It is both a reflection on the workplace and an attempt to fundamentally question the forms and values of everyday labour. Fragments of nature, brought almost unconsciously into the workplace, reveal essential human desires when placed in an inorganic, standardised environment—spaces where everything is arranged in the name of functionality. Even when provided by the company as mere decoration, office plants emerge as small pockets of disorder within rigid machinery, as ambiguous presences infiltrating geometric forms, and as sparks of life inserted into systems of control. Unlike postcards from the holidays or family photos, which personalise an impersonal office building, plants change and grow. They stretch towards the ceiling, cover radiators, and creep into the gaps of blinds—sometimes unnoticed, sometimes carefully observed and lovingly nurtured. While their growth can only be controlled within certain limits, they remain highly dependent, requiring water and care to survive in their dry, artificial surroundings. From the mailroom to the executive suite, robust species imported from subtropical regions coexist, adapting to room temperatures, droughts, and flooding waterings. The intimate bond between humans and plants can even last as long as an individual’s career.
Groneberg visited offices across Germany, photographing plants as they lived in these spaces as a kind of “natural habitat”. She also collected leaves to create an herbarium of office plants, scanning them into an archive and later cultivating them as cuttings. Employee-written texts are included, revealing glimpses of the psychological relationships between the plants and their caretakers. This research culminated in a large-scale artist’s book reminiscent of historical botanical volumes, followed by the present photobook, which brings together her photographs.
Limited edition of 500 copies.
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Title: Büropflanze (office plant / 2012)
Artist: Saskia Groneberg
Text: Thomas Seelig
Publisher: Edition Taube, 2017
Format: Hardcover, thread-stitched, offset duplex UV print
Size: 210 × 290 mm
Pages: 76
Language: German & English
Edition: First edition of 500 copies
ISBN: 9783945900086
Price: ¥7,150