It is an often heard cliché that the world is getting smaller. No. 235 / encyclopaedia of an allotment' rather proves the opposite. With a meticulous photographic study, Anne Geene gives us an insight into the surprising wealth of flora and fauna in an allotment garden of one of the Netherlands most urbanized areas. Hundreds of plant and animal species, remarkable behaviour and particular observations are represented with appropriate photographic techniques varying from saltprinting to microphotography. No. 235 / encyclopaedia of an allotment' is inspired by science but has no scientific pretentions whatsoever. Although her observations are completely personal, they are selected and captured with the precision of a scientist and with a similar attention to detail. The book aims to be a complete visual representation of everything that grows, blossoms, swims, crawls and flies in the exact 245 square meters of allotment nr. 235 of garden complex 'eigen hof' in Rotterdam. However, here we consider not so much the observed but rather the art of observing as well as the relation between photograpy and science. That is why this work is an unique photographic universe that exceeds the status of a collection in many ways.
"Anne Geene, winner of the ING New Talent Award 2014. The intelligently applied photographic techniques are an indispensable part of the visual language, be it black-and-white negatives, digital Photography, salt prints, cyanotypes, or transparency sheet films. In the time of globalization No. 253 / Encyclopaedia of an allotment conveys fascinating insight into the microcosm of just an allotment garden, which becomes a poetic story about the universe." Kasia Klimpel in: Camera Austria