Tulip Mania II

We are attracted by the beauty of flowers. Although, it remains to be seen if the beauty and emotions of those flowers justifies the environmental issues they cause or the issues brought by the global economic system in which we live?

Tulip Mania II consists of video works and glass sculptures about tulip bulbs production and labour referring to a speech by an economist Dr. Milton Friedman and to a text by Dr. Leonard E. Read. She uses video footage that she has documented in the Netherlands and Poland. The work shows that neoliberalism and market fundamentalism are deeply rooted in our lives. This aspect can also be seen in the field of organic cultivation of bulbs. The work is supported by seasonal workers from Poland and the demand for expensive organic bulbs accounts for only 0,22% of the bulb market. Along with this fact, the work suggests that organic bulb cultivation is not established solely on the basis of human collaboration and trade, but in the context of human-ecological relations. 

In summer 2024, Hiroi worked as a live-in worker on organic bulb farms in the Netherlands, along with seasonal workers from Poland, conducting field research to learn about their work and working conditions.> Link to her research blog
 

Concept, Research and Development: Kumi Hiroi Galsswork development: Gert Bullee (Glaslab)

Curator Alice Smit (Zone2Source) Supported by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, AFK (Amsterdam Fund for the Arts), Mondriaan Fund Special thanks to: Huiberts biologische bloembollen, Brygida Kalus, Kinga and Mateusz Maślanka, Natalia Nowachi (Nowacki Tulip), Lia Gieling, Karin Astrid Siegmann (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam), Maciej Kaarwowski (FNV), Free To Choose Network, Mirka Chojecki-Nuckowska, Paolo Di Lonardo & Giulia Bongiorno (Wageningen University & Research), Koki Toyota & Risako Kato (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology), Teams at Zone2Source