La Complainte des Orchidées (The Lament of the Orchids) is an immersive and poetic art installation that transforms the urban space of Luxembourg by giving voice to orchids placed on windowsills. These flowers, both discreet and resilient, become storytellers of a sensitive narrative blending botany, literature, and urban memory. Through the smartphones of passersby, their voices rise to recount the city’s transformations, the solitude within homes, and the invisible wounds of climate disruption.
Along a route following the Alzette Valley, these orchids create a constellation of mini urban gardens—true natural altars standing against the clamor of the modern world. They serve as a bridge between inside and outside, between the intimate and the collective, between the silence of plants and human stories. Far from mere decoration, they bear witness to daily life, gentrification, species disappearance, and the city’s social fractures.
This project invites a shift in perspective and listening. It encourages slowing down, drawing near, and perceiving what usually goes unnoticed. By lending their voices to these often overlooked or industrialized flowers, the narratives make the invisible visible and awaken sensitivity toward the living world. Through these floral confidences, La Complainte des Orchidées sketches a sensitive map of the city, where every windowsill becomes the stage for a story waiting to be heard.