Alate by Robin Ripley, © 2009

Alate is a series of works which explore the temporal phases of VanDusen Garden's maple grove. The wind and solar powered amalgams of organic and man-made materials focus on winged maple seeds referencing biomimicry and "nature-inspired" technology. The installation creates a sense of variability and uncertainty within the formal gardens, causing visitors to stop and examine the details and complexities of plant systems and how they inform human technologies. By working on-site during the exhibition, the artist had the opportunity to meet and involve the public in the process of creating and thinking about these hybrid works.

Robin Ripley is a Vancouver artist who focuses on the re-examination of mundane objects as a way to explore sense, memory, and knowledge. Her working processes are often laborious, questioning current economic models of speed and "efficiency" while suggesting that transformation is still possible through small gestures if we make time to notice the details of the world. Her works have been widely shown throughout British Columbia.

This spiral is a timeline composed of maple seeds in stages from formation to decay.

A tiny solar powered motor vibrates the maple seeds.

Big leaf maple keys.

Maple seeds with three wings!

Playing with the solar cell.

Pink maple keys hanging from an overhead branch.

Visitors examine how the shape of the maple seed effects its solar powered movement.

Alate-Ladder.

Pink maple keys. The top cluster powers a motor that turns back and forth, twisting the bottom cluster of keys.

Spiraling copper tube vibrating in the sun. There were three of these pieces that triggered at different times of the day.

A solar cell in the canopy powers a single maple key down below.

A few days later, there are three maple keys going wild in the bright sun and wind.