Plantasia is the Spanish Pavilion, Guest of Honor at the 2024 Guadalajara International Book Fair.
Plantasia is a fictional landscape where native iberian species from the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic coasts coexist with Mexican species typical of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific coast. This hybrid landscape celebrates exchange between these regions.
Curated by Sergio Ramírez (2018 Cervantes Prize winner), the pavilion celebrates the literary exchange between Spain and Latin America under the title Camino de Ida y Vuelta (Round-Trip Journey). Plantasia, winning proposal of the public competition organized by AC/E and the Spanish Ministry of Culture, expands on this idea inviting visitors to reflect on all the species that traveled these paths long before humans did. This image tries to expose how natural migration actually is.
Though often perceived as static, plants go on vast migrations through seed dispersal. Pollination—carried out by animals, winds and oceanic currents—acts as a vehicle that enables their reproduction in distant locations. The Spanish Pavilion at F.I.L. brings together symbolic plant species from both the Iberian Peninsula and Central America, creating a fictional landscape: a hybrid botanical territory composed of twelve species from each region.
The project also pays tribute to the prominent role of flora in contemporary latin american literature, referring to works such as El cielo de la selva by Elaine Vilar Madruga or Las niñas del naranjel by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara.
In the midst of the busy book fair, the second largest worldwide, the pavilion serves as a decompression chamber. Placed between indoors and outdoors, nature and artifice, Plantasia offers a space for rest and contemplation. It is designed as a refuge for readers.
The pavilion consists of a dense mass of vegetation enclosed by a continuous, 400-meter-long bench that invites visitors to sit and unwind. This central element defines the pavilion’s layout, which includes a main plaza connecting to the fair’s entrance and two auditoriums hosting screenings, talks, and panel discussions. A pink bookshelf, open on both sides, defines the fair’s central bookstore. Interwoven with plant groupings from both regions, this structure forms a backdrop for the diverse literary works.
Plantasia features over 1,300 plants, which were maintained daily through a dedicated irrigation and care program throughout the fair. The plants—chosen for their ability to thrive in Guadalajara’s climate—come from local nurseries and were donated to the citie's Museum of Environmental Sciences once the fair ended. A temporary landscape that became permanent.
In 1976, musician Mort Garson composed Mother Earth’s Plantasia, an album of electronic soundscapes designed as “music for plants,” intended to encourage plant growth. This project pays homage to that album.
Plants move at an imperceptibly slow pace—so much so that, within a human lifetime, they seem motionless and native to their surroundings. Yet they define the atmosphere of a place, shaping the landscapes we emotionally connect with. The relocation of a species can be profoundly evocative, transforming an unfamiliar space into a potential home.
Plantasia seeks to create a sense of belonging to a new landscape; one that exists halfway between two worlds.
Credits
Architecture: BURR (Elena Fuertes, Ramón Martínez, Álvaro Molins, Jorge Sobejano)
Team: Alba Aparicio, Amanda Bouzada, Natalia Molina, Guillermo Hernández y Marina Van der Linden.
Organizers: Ministerio de Cultura y Acción Cultural Española
Landscape design: Ambienta.
Production: Omega Group
Furniture: Ondarreta e Isimar
