Plant thinking as geo-philosophy

Abstract

At a time of ecological threat, artists and philosophers are increasingly turning to the plant world for information. Plant theorist Michael Marder charts the philosophy of plants and explores how human thinking is altered by encounters with the vegetal world. Janet Laurence is a major international artist who engages with plant theories and whose work references scientific research into plant learning, memory and aesthetics.

Laurence has worked with botanists, naturalists and scientists to create new phyto-elements that become art. Her immersive and interactive installations restore balance between science and art, as she utilizes plants as metaphors, as communicators and as co-species. Through her work, a regrounding and geo-mining of nature, as articulated by geo-philosopher Ben Woodard and geo-philosopher Jussi Parikka, is possible.