The Comic Book as Seedbed: Manga Farming by Koshi Kawach

Wow! Look at the life emanating from these comic books. The project, called Manga Farming, is brought to us by Tokyo-based artist Koshi Kawach.

The  installation appeared  at the Matsuzakaya department store in Nagoya in 2010.

Kawach infuses each comic book with the seeds of Radish sprout, then with a little water and some sun whammo…

 In her review of the work, Simone Preuss points out that:

The idea opens up a whole new range of possibilities for book recycling and indoor farming. Paper is potentially a wonderful fertilizer and planting ground, and according to an USDA study, pulp and paper waste recycling to produce fertilizer is very much the need of the hour: “The U.S. pulp and paper industry produces 5 million mg of solid waste each year in the form of sludge. Currently, most of this waste is landfilled.

 Amazing stuff.

 more images here