Quoting from: http://www.psychobotany.com/projects/SLOP.htm
"In 1976, the producer (Michael Braun) and the director (Walon Green) of a feature film in-the-making, The Secret Life of Plants, arranged for a creative collaboration between myself, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and John Lifton, from London. John and I had been in touch on our shared creative backgrounds (architecture + AI) and creative interests (electronic arts and bio-sensing) since my visit to the UK the previous year. John had recently presented his very sophisticated, new audio/installation, "Green Music" at the Whitechapel Gallery, in London. I had been doing a project series, titled "Bio-Dis-Plays", with NASA technical support (multi-channel bio-telemetry systems), monitoring performers physiology (EEG, EMG, EKG, etc.) as inputs to audio and video synthesizers, in extended biofeedback-media artworks. At the time I often collaborated with Jim Wiseman, video synthesizer artist, as well as with a number of electronic music composers. I had just begun working with Tom Zahuranec, who was an audio technician at Mills College, and had been doing (GSR/Backster Effect) plant-audio synthesis interface works since 1972.
Christopher Bird, co-author of the book, The Secret Life of Plants, and I had corresponded, and in addition to putting the filmmakers in touch, he recommended that I meet Henry Dakin, in San Francisco. Henry had a building on Washington Street, in Pacific Heights, housing his independent Washington Research Center. He offered his help and his basement lab facilities, which included a large Faraday cage/room and electronic equipment, for creative and technical development of sequences that we would prepare for The Secret Life of Plants film. Ultimately, two plant-music on location sequences were scripted/created, to be included in the film.
Over the course of four days in June 1976, while open to the public, six large plants in the center of the glass Plant Conservatory in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park (modeled on Kew Gardens, in London), produced an audible, live musical score, based on simple bio-electric sensing of their responses to light, temperature, movement and other physio-environmental factors (gold needle electrodes at the base of the stem/root). This was John Lifton's new variation of his "Green Music" composition. Amid the 'tropical'garden stood a five foot high rack of audio and digital processing systems[...].
In July, the production moved to a large sound stage (World Stage) in Los Angeles, for a more elaborate performance sequence which we had designed/composed. The choreographed audio and video performance would build incrementally, from one plant up to six monitored plants, while adding from one to six dancers wearing EEG and EMG sensor/transmitters. The set included numerous live plants, six dance performers from the L.A. area, John Lifton and his plant-music systems, Jim Wiseman on Paik-Abe and Sandin video synthesizers/processors, Tom Zahuranec on a Tcherepnin audio synthesizer, and me, interfacing multi-channel, FM bio-telemetry systems between the performers and the audio-video systems, and facilitating performance sequences.
Ultimately, the film included only a small part of the two production sequences we created. It also had a less than notable release, with a sound track by Stevie Wonder becoming its legacy. John, Jim, Tom and I, each retained some personal and project documentation and recordings, a few elements of which are presented here." ~ Richard Lowenberg, April 20, 2007
Review:The Secret Life of Plants
From PESWiki Jump to: navigation, search The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird; Harper Paperbacks; March 8, 1989
A Stunning Documentation of Plant Sentience
The Secret Life of Plants is quite possibly one of the most engrossing books pertaining to biology and symbiotic relationships between plants and humans ever written.
The book alleges, with convincing proof, that plants can sense the emotions of living things around them, from other plants, to fish and animals, to humans. A lie detector and related apparatus affixed to a plant measures significant responses by the plant to its environment. Positive emotions, negative emotions, intent to harm, pain felt by a separate organism can be "sensed" by the plant, as show by the detector.
Though it starts slow, the documentary movie, produced a decade earlier, in 1979, contains some astonishing footage of some of these types of experiments.
- "I read this book more than a decade ago. It is one of those 'life-changing' books that gives a fundamentally new perspective to the amazing world in which we live. I mark it among the most influential books I've read." --
I had been looking for this movie for ever after reading the book and finally found it. anyway - this is my first upload so if anything is not quite right please let me know and i\'ll do it again. The quality is good enough although I am still in search of a better copy - for now, this is all I could find :(
the book had intrigued me and i really wanted to see the movie. after seeing it i think it was not quite what i was expecting... but still worth the watch - and i know many people are in search of it so here it is :)
Type: Documentary Rating: NR Running Time: 96 Minutes Directed by: Walon Green
Soundtrack: Stevie Wonder
The thesis of this visually stunning documentary feature is that plants have feelings, too, and that they have a variety of ways of expressing them. Based on the best-selling book by Peter Topkins and Christopher Bird, the custom of talking to one\'s houseplants is strongly recommended by the filmmakers. Though scientific in tone, the film does not air the opposing view advocated by, perhaps, a majority of scientists. One highlight of the film is its original musical score by Stevie Wonder. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide Sterling D. Allan, CEO, PES Network, Inc. (Jan. 11, 2009)
We list it here at PESWiki for its relevance to the electrical nature of all living things. As we come up with new energy sources, we will need to understand how they interact with living systems, and make sure that they are not detrimental to life.
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