The Immersion Garden at the Tulip Time Festival in Holland, MI, entered its fourth season this year. Since its debut in 2022, the garden has been specifically designed to offer visitors the perfect photo opportunity through our unique Immersive Blooming Objects (I.B.O.s), while also telling the rich story of the tulip.
Featuring ‘only’ 65,000 tulips and hyacinths—carefully forced into bloom—the garden is conceived as a giant floral arrangement that invites guests to get up close and personal with the flowers. The raised installations create stunning visual settings where visitors appear to be completely surrounded by tulips, all within a compact footprint. This efficient design allows us to craft dozens of distinct scenes and compositions throughout the garden. The Immersion garden is an attraction for all ages and demographics, and generates free publicity on both social and mainstream media.
Set on just 1 acre (4,000 m²), including paths and interpretation panels, the Immersion Garden can accommodate up to 400 visitors at any given time, providing an engaging and photogenic experience for all.
When people encounter tulips in full bloom, they are often captivated by the flower’s incredible variety of colors and shapes. This fascination naturally sparks curiosity—not only about tulip cultivation, but also about the flower’s rich cultural and historical background. What better way to satisfy this interest than through an outdoor exhibition at your garden or festival, offering both information and inspiration?
Drawing on years of interdisciplinary research—conducted in collaboration with art historians, botanical experts, archaeologists, and museums—IGMPR has developed an engaging outdoor exhibition that brings the story of the tulip to life. Designed for tulip festivals and public gardens, this exhibition offers visitors an attractive and authoritative journey through the natural and cultural history of the tulip, tracing its path from East to West.
The exhibition features 24 beautifully designed outdoor panels with over 100 visuals, including rare artworks, illustrations, and photography. These are presented across four main themes:
1. What Makes a Flower a Tulip Discover the anatomy, life cycle, and reproduction of the tulip, along with an introduction to today’s diverse cultivar groups.
2. Ancient Origins Explore the natural history of wild tulip species in Central Asia and their earliest appearances in art and culture, dating back to 2000 BC.
3. The Rise of Tulip Culture Learn how the Turks elevated tulip cultivation into a cultural phenomenon and how the flower made its way further into Europe.
4. Arrival in the Netherlands See how the tulip, within just a few decades of arriving in the Netherlands, sparked “Tulip Mania,” influenced new art forms like still lifes and Delftware, and laid the foundation for today’s Dutch horticulture industry.
The exhibition can be tailored with additional panels to share the unique story of your own garden or festival.
The first version was launched at the Immersion Garden during the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan. An updated edition premiered this spring at tulip festivals in both the United Kingdom (Tulleys Tulip Fest) and Italy (Parco Sigurtà).
This cost-effective installation adds 15–30 minutes of meaningful engagement to the visitor experience. It also serves as a popular photo backdrop and an educational feature for school trips and guided tours – helping attract new and diverse audiences.Feel free to contact us about licensing and customization options.
This spring, visitors to the renowned Tulip Festival in Beijing’s famous Zhongshan Park – located next to the Forbidden City – will be invited to immerse themselves in the rich natural and cultural history of the tulip, a flower from the ancient Silk Road.
IGMPR was commissioned to design and curate this vibrant exhibition in the classical Qi Jian Fang Pavilion (80 m²). Drawing on years of interdisciplinary research in collaboration with art historians, botanical experts, archaeologists, and museums from around the world, curator Ibo Gülsen presents compelling new evidence of humanity’s admiration for the tulip, dating back as far as 2000 BC.
With over 100 carefully selected and newly created visuals and illustrations, this colorful exhibition explores the following themes:
What Makes a Flower a Tulip: Discover the anatomy, growth cycle, and reproduction of tulips, as well as the modern cultivar groups.
Natural History: Learn about the wild tulip species and their origins in the mountainous regions of Central Asia.
Cultural History: Explore how the tulip has inspired art and craftsmanship across Central Asia, Türkiye, and the Netherlands – including ceramics.
The World of Tulips: Enjoy a photographic journey through tulip gardens and festivals worldwide, showcasing the universal love for this iconic flower.
In addition, the exhibition features two immersive art installations:
The Istanbul Tulip Re-imagined In collaboration with local silk flower and glass artists, IGMPR brought the (almost)extinct “Istanbul Tulip”—once favored by the Ottoman sultans—back to life. These reconstructions are based on centuries-old botanical illustrations and artefacts.
Tulipmania! Experience the grandeur of tulips in 17th-century still life. We created XL reproductions of the stunning still life paintings by Roman and Henriëtte Resinger, featuring tulips displayed in Delftware flower towers—ceramic masterpieces inspired by Asian pagodas and originally used to showcase prized tulips.
The exhibition’s opening was attended by representatives from the Beijing Parks and Culture Departments, as well as officials from the Dutch and Turkish embassies. This exhibition can be tailored to different venues, languages, and educational formats. Please contact us to explore how it can enhance the visitor experience at your garden, museum, or festival.
The exhibition is very good and the exhibition is carefully arranged. I learned about the history of tulips and broadened my horizons. Thank you Zhongshan Park for creating such a good experience opportunity for tourists. – comment by visitor
