"This work is a reinterpretation of the idea of chronobiology imagined by Carl von Linné in the 18th century, and includes a selection of 30 species of flowers that allow us to estimate the passage of time by observing the opening and closing of their corollas throughout the day. Made up of 13,000 plants spread over 1,300 square metres of plant patches and veins, this work of art can be seen as a way of questioning the present, bringing together the time of the plants, the time of the bees (a beehive has been installed nearby), the personal and intimate time of the public's free wanderings, and the geological time of the landscape, as the site of the work opens out onto the city of Besançon, the famous watchmaking town, and gives a glimpse of the start of the Jura massif in the distance.
It can be seen in the Parc des Glacis (far west) in Besançon, opposite the old botanical gardens.
For more information, visit www.horologiumflorae.fr
The work, inaugurated on 10 June, is scheduled to last until mid-October 2023.