The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, in Kanazawa City, Japan, took on a project, called "Asatte Asagao Project 21," to cover its outer wall with the leaves and flowers of morning glory (Asagao) in the summer of 2007. The round museum building is located on the lawn, with full-height glazing on all sides. Museum officials said that the electricity consumption of the museum during the summer was lower than in the previous year, and they attribute this reduction was due to the shade provided by the morning glory, which would have alleviated the heat from the sun.
The project was an art exhibition directed by Katsuhiko Hibino, an internationally renowned contemporary artist, and was on display from April to October, 2007, involving public participants. In the spring, a large number of volunteers planted two thousands morning glory seedlings around the outer wall, which has a total circumference of 350 meters. In summer, the vines of these plants grew and covered the walls with blooming red and blue flowers and vibrant greenery.
The museum used 290,000 kilowatts of electricity in July 2007, a 10,000-kilowatt reduction from the same month in the previous year. On November 10, there was a harvest festival, in which citizens were invited to collect the morning glory seeds. The museum will also keep some of them in storage.
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Photo courtesy of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
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