3rd March – 2nd June 2024

 

Opening: 2nd of March 2024, 5 pm

 

The Senses of Plants / Die Sinne der Pflanzen

 

Anais-karenin, Marisa Benjamim, Suzette Bousema, Anca Bucur, María Castellanos & Alberto Valverde, Patricia Domínguez, Nicole L'Huillier, Špela Petrič, Elsa Salonen, Miriam Simun, Saša Spačal, Anton Vidokle und Zheng Bo

 

Artistic Direction: Julia Katharina Thiemann


The thematic group exhibition The Senses of Plants presents research-based, non-anthropocentric perspectives on plants and their senses, their abilities and their intelligence, all from the viewpoint of international young artists working under the artistic direction of Julia Katharina Thiemann at Villa Merkel in Esslingen am Neckar. The diverse artistic works by Anais-karenin, Marisa Benjamim, Suzette Bousema, Anca Bucur, María Castellanos & Alberto Valverde, Patricia Domínguez, Nicole L'Huillier, Špela Petrič, Elsa Salonen, Miriam Simun, Saša Spačal, Anton Vidokle and Zheng Bo explore alternative ways of being with plants and trees: The works present alternative and aesthetic ways of using plants and trees to address ecological, philosophical and, ultimately, social and political issues.

 

Although plants and trees are usually seen as mute, soulless and motionless in a half-living, object-like state, scientific research has shown for some time that plants have more and different senses than humans. Plants can communicate with each other and with others, have a memory, and make decisions. In a speculative manner, the artistic works gathered here ask what consequences we can draw from this both in terms of our thoughts and actions.


Leading scholars, such as philosopher Prof. Dr. Michael Marder and plant neurobiologist Prof. Dr. Paco Calvo, are advancing a novel comprehension of plant cognition, challenging previously prevalent ontological frameworks. If we take plants seriously as living, feeling, communicating and thinking co-inhabitants of this planet, new questions arise. We are not only dependent on plants for oxygen and food supply, but we can also learn from them. Does it therefore become necessary for plants to possess their own legal status in order for us to coexist?

 

In the current environmental and social crises of the post-Anthropocene, the participating artists attempt to rethink our relationship to plants and our environment by exploring alternative, speculative approaches within the artistic realm. The primary focus of the artistic explorations is on the study of plants and their inherent laws, which test our perception of ourselves and the world with wit and subtlety.

 

The Senses of Plants opens up new aesthetic perspectives on our coexistence with plants through the medium of art, integrating the insights of varying sciences and indigenous ways of thinking. Could we imagine going beyond the respectful cross-species coexistence and conceive of and live a new human-plant hybrid?

 

The exhibition, which was conceived and curated by Julia Katharina Thiemann, is complemented by a comprehensive catalog with numerous illustrations of the artistic works and in-depth essays by international authors from various disciplines. An extensive performance, event, and educational program accompany the aesthetic exploration.


Supported by 
 

[Translate to Englisch:] Saša Spačal, Repository of a Yearning Hybrid or How to Evoke a Symbiont, 2022, Installation shot, Photo: Saša Spačal, Courtesy the artist[Translate to Englisch:] Suzette Bousema, Super Organism, 2020, Courtesy the artist[Translate to Englisch:] María Castellanos & Alberto Valverde, Beyond Human Perception, 2020, Photos: María Castellanos & Alberto Valverde, Courtesy the artist[Translate to Englisch:] Patricia Domínguez, Matrix Vegetal, 2021/22, Videostill, Courtesy the artist[Translate to Englisch:] Špela Petrič, PL'AI, 2020, Photo: Hana Josič, Courtesy the artist


Since February 2019

 

BELLE & APHRODITE

 

Augmented Reality

by Barbara Herold


In the app BELLE & APHRODITE for smartphone or tablet, it is possible to experience a walk-in audio-visual metamorphosis of virtual plants.

The 3D plant BELLE extends across the entire Merkelpark. As an interactive form-cloud, it leads visitors, on the basis of data regarding their location and movement, to a virtual rose at the centre of the park.

APHRODITE was designed for the skylit atrium. In recurrent audio-visual loops, the 3D installation develops into a Phalaenopsis, a familiar type of orchid. APHRODITE can be viewed from all perspectives and, in its overlapping of simulation space and actual space, plays with the experience of abstraction, proportional relationships, proximity and distance.


Barbara Herold (*1977) directs her attention to the shaping of reality through the media. She investigates structures and phenomena which have established themselves through the influence of media technology on society; she develops her own systems on the basis of prevalent design practices such as computation and algorithms. Her works arise in the dynamic field between analogue and digital technology.

 

Download App BELLE - APHRODITE

App Store & Google Play Store


Barbara Herold BELLE & APHRODITE, Seit Februar 2019