Mesk Ellil

2015 – 2019

Installation. Ensemble of 7 tinted glass terrariums, Cestrum nocturnum, horticultural lighting, moonlight lighting, delay, 250 x 200 x 50 cm each;
250 x 500 x 500 cm overall

Mesk-ellil is a garden made up solely of plants of the same name – an Arabic term that could be translated as “night musk”. The Latin name is Cestrum nocturnum, this being a nocturnal plant: only at night do its greenish-white star- shaped flowers open, releasing a delicate perfume redolent of jasmine and lime that is one of the most powerful aromas in the vegetal kingdom.

To enable visitors to enjoy the olfactory experience of a Mesk-ellil garden during normal exhibition hours, this installation switches day and night.

The installation is a hermetic little world, separate from ours and with its own climatic conditions and humidity levels, in which the flowers live a life in reverse.