Terrestrial University: Every Plant has a Story (to tell)
You can see large showcases in front of a white wall. In the showcases are screens with videos and photos.
Uriel Orlow, Lili Carr, and Peter Nick in conversation
Thu, February 25, 2021 7 pm CET, Talk
Online

If we want to understand the Critical Zone, we should listen to its inhabitants – including those who often do not get a chance to »speak«: plants. What can we learn from them?

The fact that plants, unlike humans, animals, insects or bacteria, cannot move around does not mean that they just vegetate. They live, strive, perceive, communicate, and: tell stories.

In this way, plants can also tell us something about our history, as Uriel Orlow's work shows. His installation »Soil Affinities« makes visible the links between agriculturally used plants and colonial history. Here, plants become a compass that points to historical and contemporary (post-)colonial relationships.

As an architect and member of the Feral Atlas Collective, Lili Carr is concerned with the non-designed effects of human-made infrastructures on the natural environment, among other things, and how alternative models of architecture can incorporate them. She has also presented the »Feral Atlas« project at the Driving the Human Festival.

As an expert in molecular cell biology at the KIT Botanical Institute, Prof. Dr. Peter Nick wants to understand how plants manage to adapt so masterfully to their environment in order to survive, and what insights this can give us for a sustainable way of life.

The event will be held in English.

Terrestrial University

Viewers have the opportunity to accompany the conversation with questions, thoughts and suggestions in the chat of the Critical Zones Telegram group (zkm_criticalzones).

Please click here to download the instructions for Telegram.

Website
The event via live stream
Organization / Institution
ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe

Accompanying program