Macy's "Art in Bloom" flower show gets a touch of tech

One definition of technology is that it's a system by which a society provides its members with those things needed or desired.

Because many members of society need or desire flowers, nature also may be considered a valued technology, which helps the high-tech touches within this year's Macy's Flower Show, "Art in Bloom," make sense.

Amid the waves of canna, croton, calceolaria and delphinium, a rear projection screen shows clouds floating past, occasionally interspersed with a cascade of tumbling rose petals.

A statue of David (accessorized with a fig leaf) appears almost tattooed at times as a pixel mapping technique turns his body into a canvas upon which flowers, or Peter Maxx swirls, or geometric patterns are projected. The designs never spill outside the lines, so to speak, but remain contained upon the statue's surface.

In an installation best observed from a distance, a slanted bank of white hydrangea serves as a blank canvas. Works of art are projected upon them, with the petals suggesting brush strokes.

The artistry of "Art in Bloom" extends to visitors who download the Impresso app from JixiPix onto their cellphones, which lets them give their camera shots a painterly quality, using a variety of styles.

The app is available for the duration of the show for a special rate of 99 cents by visiting apple.co/1LxmD9n.

Visitors also can view a 30-second time-lapse video of the installation process from first load of dirt to the last pot of peony, said Macy's spokesman Kamal Bosamia.

"Now you tell me," joked Dale Bachman, CEO of Bachman's, who admits that some of the technological aspects of the show escape him. He's more at home planting ranunculus in the surrealist garden, or leading a tour of the exhibit.

The "Art in Bloom" theme gives each horticultural tableau an artistic identity — such as Renaissance, post-impressionist, cubist, abstract, art nouveau and a kinetic garden in which a Calderesque mobile creates reflective lighting effects on the plants.

"We've got a lot of new plants in the show this year," Bachman said, noting variegated Shiloh Splash birch, several varieties of canna, dianthus, Black Velvet orchids, stock, scilla Peruviana and a lethally barbed tree from South America called Monkey Puzzle, placed well back from curious fingers.

Bachman also drew attention to the number of "small space" plants in the show, geared toward the growing market among condo and apartment dwellers for balcony gardens, such as a columnar oak tree called Skinny Genes.

"Art in Bloom" opens March 22 in the eighth-floor auditorium of Macy's downtown Minneapolis store. The free show is open during regular store hours. It runs through April 4.

Kim Ode • 612-673-7185