Below: The Indoor Forest completed and in use. There is a bench / storage in the middle of the installation, and a sound system which can play nature sounds to make for a relaxing environment for a break during a work day.

The Indoor Forest Project is an ongoing art and design project by Inari Kiuru, visually documenting plants and flowers; building living installations, and providing advice and inspiration on indoor plants and flowers online.

The Indoor Forest Project’s first green installation was a permanent air-cleansing indoor garden – a vibrant, room sized forest indoors! – for a Northcity4, a jewellery studio and school housed in a large warehouse in Bulleke-Bek/Brunswick. The work began in 2014 as a collaboration between artist Inari Kiuru and Northcity4 when they won, enabled by strong local support, a Bank of Melbourne grant to build this experimental and one-of-a-kind project in Australia.

The first ‘Indoor Forest’ was researched and designed by Inari Kiuru, the air-quality testing conducted by Bell Laboratories, and realised in collaboration with NC4. Completed and launched in late 2017, the work was based on NASA research on air-purifying indoor plants, created to work along the conventional air-filtering systems at the NC4 studios, as well as to educate and delight artists and visitors. 

The forest consisted of large containers of plant species which help clean the air, and also worked as an interactive art installation providing space to sit, contemplate and listen to natural sounds. 

As NC4 closed their doors in 2019, the installation now lives on in Inari Kiuru’s home.

You can find the project background and more info at:

Instagram: @the_indoor_forest_project

Facebook: The Indoor Forest Project

‘Indoor garden clears the air as plants inhale the nasties in our midst’. Kiuru’s interview about her permanent, living forest installation at Northcity4. Megan Backhouse, The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 November 2016.