Plant Residency™️

Plant Residency™️ is a residency program for Artists and Houseplants   Special Special has been hosting Plant Residency™️ since 2020 around the globe, along with its sister project Plant Adoption Bureau™️ Let's reignite this project with your support! If you or...

Plant Residency™️ is a residency program for Artists and Houseplants

 

Special Special has been hosting Plant Residency™️ since 2020 around the globe, along with its sister project Plant Adoption Bureau™️

Let's reignite this project with your support! If you or someone you know has a public-facing space with ample natural light, let's discuss! 

 

Contact: info[at]specialspecial.com

 

Rooster, Tiger, Sheep by Snake Exhibition

MGM Macau

October 2019-January 2020

Macau

Services: Concept, Graphics, Exhibition Design, Exhibition Curation
Wen-You Cai, founder and director of Special Special, opened her first solo photography exhibition along with a Special Special pop-up at MGM Macau Resort. The exhibition was accompanied by the release of her photo book "Rooster, Tiger, Sheep by Snake." The exhibition featured...

Wen-You Cai, founder and director of Special Special, opened her first solo photography exhibition along with a Special Special pop-up at MGM Macau Resort. The exhibition was accompanied by the release of her photo book "Rooster, Tiger, Sheep by Snake." The exhibition featured a collection of 175 photographs of her family, mostly on film, in black and white and color photographs, taken over the span of a decade through travel and jet-lag, at work, on vacation, and at home.

Cyber Garden 2.0 / Plant Residency

TX Huaihai Youth Energy Center

November 25–December 5, 2021

Retail installation at TX Huaihai was located at the second floor of the premise.
Plant Residency participants from all over the Shanghai area were on view at the pop-up.
Each plant is accompanied with a card displaying its basic info and curriculum vitae.
0135 Travel Agency, a virtual travel art project, took over the space for 2 days providing visitors opportunities to "travel abroad" during the COVID pandemic.
Shanghai, China

Services: Concept, Graphics, Merchandising, Interior Design, Product design, Exhibition Curation, Event Planning
Special Special hosts a 10 day pop-up on the second floor at the vibrant shopping mall of TX Huaihai Youth Energy Center. Featuring the Cyber Garden furniture installation from MAP along with a green screen backdrop to expand our imagined...

Special Special hosts a 10 day pop-up on the second floor at the vibrant shopping mall of TX Huaihai Youth Energy Center. Featuring the Cyber Garden furniture installation from MAP along with a green screen backdrop to expand our imagined environment. 

Shanghai locals were invited to participate in a Plant Residency with their houseplants with corresponding profiles. Selected events included an eco-tourism art project with 0135 Travel Agency by artist Hersey Lin.

VIP gift for Cai Guo Qiang’s Odyssey and Homecoming

Client: Cai Studio x ANTA

November 2020

Beijing, China

Services: Product Design, Graphic Design
Custom design for a set of jacket, bag, and hat and packaging, incorporating Cai Guo Qiang’s artworks, that were gifted to VIP guests at the Palace Museum exhibition of Cai Guo Qiang’s Odyssey and Homecoming Exhibition.

Custom design for a set of jacket, bag, and hat and packaging, incorporating Cai Guo Qiang’s artworks, that were gifted to VIP guests at the Palace Museum exhibition of Cai Guo Qiang’s Odyssey and Homecoming Exhibition.

Cyber Garden

Museum of Art Pudong

July 8-October 31, 2021

Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai, China

Services: Concept, Graphics, Merchandising, Exhibition Design, Exhibition Curation
Cyber Garden inaugurated the pop-up space at the Museum of Art Pudong (MAP). In the newly opened architecture designed by Jean Nouvel, Special Special activated the 2540 square feet pop-up space on the museum's ground floor with an immersive experience combining retail and digital...

Cyber Garden inaugurated the pop-up space at the Museum of Art Pudong (MAP). In the newly opened architecture designed by Jean Nouvel, Special Special activated the 2540 square feet pop-up space on the museum's ground floor with an immersive experience combining retail and digital art exhibition. Consisting of custom fabricated Cyber Garden furnitures that are a fusion of the natural with the synthetic, pastoral nature with cyberpunk. Pondering how gardening metaphors can nurture different understandings of the history of the World Wide Web. The internet becomes a sprawling garden of many paths, where files need "pruning" and "weeding", and ideas need to be "cultivated." 

Inspired by nostalgia for early millennial internet cafe culture, the "Internet Cafe" installation featured 8 digital art projects from artists around the world, including Max Bittker (US), Liu Chang (China), Will Doenlen (US), Heidi Latsky & Maya Man (US), Lullatone & Jono Brandel (US), Laurel Schwulst (US), ZZYW (US), and a VR installation by Sebastian Masuda (Japan)

The retail shop is merchandised with playful Special Special art editions, and custom products created for MAP.

Plant Adoption Bureau

TANK Art Festival

September 30–October 3, 2021

TANK Art Museum, Shanghai, China

Services: Concept, Graphics, Merchandising, Product Design, Experience Design, Presenter
For TANK Art Festival, Special Special created a Plant Adoption Bureau where visitors can take home a small but special houseplant through a heart-warming adoption process. Special Special also hosted a meditation hour on the rooftop of the former oil...
For TANK Art Festival, Special Special created a Plant Adoption Bureau where visitors can take home a small but special houseplant through a heart-warming adoption process. Special Special also hosted a meditation hour on the rooftop of the former oil tank architecture. Participants were invited to bathe in a botanical sound experience to recharge and deepening their connection with plants before going back to the bustling festival.

Special Special Playground

MGM Macau

October 2019–January 2020

Macau

Services: Concept, Graphics, Merchandising, Exhibition Design, Exhibition Curation
Special Special presented a playground inspired retail pop-up at MGM Macau featuring playful artworks and products that engaged people of all ages to participate in an intimate shopping experience. The spirited nature of the venue offered an alternative space of engagement and retreat in the casino...

Special Special presented a playground inspired retail pop-up at MGM Macau featuring playful artworks and products that engaged people of all ages to participate in an intimate shopping experience. The spirited nature of the venue offered an alternative space of engagement and retreat in the casino environment for visitors of all ages. The playground featured an extension of Sarah Verity's Love Hotel Rooms project from the previous year, this time titled Share a Room With Us. Visitors of all ages were encouraged to draw a room they love or to envision their ideal stay at the MGM hotel, and the drawings were presented side by side as a collective installation, along with a written message. With Aria McManus’s Towelkini, Mackenzie Younger’s Jackets, Jenny Hata Blumenfield’s cyanotypes and ceramic sculptures, as well as other elements of previous exhibitions and editions, the playground became a platform that expanded the creative dialogue from Special Special’s New York gallery across the world to Macau. 

Throughout the months of the pop-up, Special Special commissioned new cross cultural art editions such as Lu Zhang’s edition of Lion’s Feet Treasure Bowl, a playful, East-meets-West reintepretation of Lion’s Head and clawed vessels meant to enhance good fortune. Will Doenlen created an installation Without Wind, No Waves, a set of 3D individual playing cards about how randomness shapes our lives and, as a result who we are. The significance of both editions appropriately aligned with the resort and casino setting. 

Plant Adoption Bureau at CIIE

Partner: Inditex

November 5–10, 2021

Inditex Exhibition Booth at China International Import Expo where Plant Adoption Bureau is hosted.
National Convention and Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China

Services: Concept, Graphics, Product Design, Experience Design
For Inditex’s booth at the 2021 Chinese International Import Expo (CIIE), Special Special presented a Plant Adoption Bureau. The Adoption Bureau’s goal was to create a fulfilling and fun experience for visitors to adopt the many plants and trees at...

For Inditex’s booth at the 2021 Chinese International Import Expo (CIIE), Special Special presented a Plant Adoption Bureau. The Adoption Bureau’s goal was to create a fulfilling and fun experience for visitors to adopt the many plants and trees at Inditex’s booth so that they could find new homes after the Expo, furthering Inditex’s commitment to sustainability in all aspects of its business.