Tokyo-based artist Azuma Makoto, has given us a look at his latest extreme installation, Exobiotanica. Not exactly your traditional form of installation (but then again, what is a traditional form of installation?), Makoto launched two botanical arrangements into space recently in Nevada.

He hooked up with the crew from Sacramento’s JP Aerospace to make his project possible, who have been sending objects into space for since 1977. Building a light metal frame to hold the arrangements, they attached a helium balloon on each of them to carry it into the stratosphere.

One of the bouquet arrangements consisted of 30 different brightly coloured flowers from around the world to contrast with the darkness of space. The other was a bonsai, from a 50 year-old pine.

The two arrangements, which JP Aerospace named Away 100 and Away 101, reached heights of 87,000 feet and 91,800 feet, respectively, before the helium balloon burst and the plants fell back to earth.

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