​The Bamboo Project

​ The Gusovius bamboo project brings together the results of the insect study and those of the media analysis. People are shown what untruths are spread by nature conservation associations, "scientists", the media and public broadcasting, and how these untruths affect legislation. The Gusovius bamboo project is a combination of a traveling exhibition and a bamboo park.  

​ The Travelling Exhibition 
​ In the prepared travelling exhibition, the media world and the world of scientific reality are presented side by side. On the one hand, this is done through quotations from the media and, on the other hand, through large-format posters of the images of the scientific documentation. The travelling exhibition is intended to reach as many people as possible and to overcome the botanical xenophobia that has been imprinted in society so far. 

​​A unique culture project, combined with a unique insect study and a unique media analysis, shows the dangers of spreading scientific misinformation.

​ On the one hand, the viewer gains an insight into the fascinating life of insects on non-native plants, and on the other hand, his media competence grows enormously through the fact that he has to recognize how much untruth is being spread. The exhibition also encourages curiosity to do one's own research and not to believe everything that the media disseminates.   

​​ The Bamboo Park 
​ The travelling exhibition can only be an introduction to overcoming xenophobia in the field of the plant world. It is equally important that people can experience the value of foreign plants with all their senses.

​ By chance, the bamboo Fargesia nitida flowered and sowed itself in the private garden of Gusovius more than ten years ago. This plant only blooms at intervals of about 120 years and this worldwide. After flowering, the mother plant dies. Numerous seedlings were obtained, and a small bamboo nursery was established. 
  
​ Bamboo, along with cherry laurel, thuja and forsythia, is one of the most rejected or downright hated plants by many "conservationists", as the epitome of the worthless foreign. Expressions such as "worthless than a concrete wall", "ecological plague", "plastic plant" and "crime against nature" are common in nature conservation circles and even find their way into politics and, subsequently, legislation.      

​ This agitation and the associated stigmatization as the person responsible for insect mortality gave the impetus to record the insect world in the bamboo garden at home and to document it in pictures and films. In over five and a half years, hundreds of thousands of recordings were taken.    

​ A bamboo park is planned. This is to be supplemented with numerous non-native plants and preserved structures that are conducive to insects. Visitors can experience the diverse insect life on site. Insect hotels can also be planted. 

​ It is time for an educational offensive that conveys to people the value of non-native plants. The bamboo park will become a hotspot of biodiversity and a source of knowledge for the whole of Europe.
Both locals and people from different countries visit the bamboo park and enjoy the botanical diversity and numerous insects.      

​ The Bamboo Park: An international meeting place against xenophobia.