• Wed 31 10 2018 •
cinematic / transmedial Herbarium
Floraphilia
With JUMANA EMIL ABBOUD, JOHN BALDESSARI, YTO BARRADA, LES BLANK WITH MAUREEN GOSLING, ZHENG BO, IGOR AND IVAN BUHAROV, DAVID CLAERBOUT, VERA DREBUSCH, BINIAM GRAFFÉ, MIRA RACHEL HANAK, CANDICE LIN, STEFFEN MEYN, BEATRIZ SANTIAGO MUNOZ, PAULA PEDRAZA, JESSICA RINLAND, MARTHIN ROZO, JUDITH RÖDER and PIA RÖNICKE
20:00
Venue: exMedia Lab, Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, Filzengraben 8–10, 50676 Cologne
Free admission
In English
In collaboration with the Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln
Concept and organisation: Mathias Antlfinger, Verena Friedrich, Ute Hörner and Aneta Rostkowska
JOHN BALDESSARI’s attempt at teaching the alphabet to a house plant is an endeavour as comical as it is philosophical. His film Teaching a Plant the Alphabet from 1972 addresses the social character of linguistic signs but also the constant challenge of mutual understanding. Baldessari’s insistent lessons, of course, do very little for the scrawny plant, which remains unaffected by all the efforts of didactic authority. The plant’s dogged resistance to all pedagogical ambition as well as the human’s determined attempt at communication reach an increasingly absurd level.
But what kind of relationship, if not a linguistic one, do we have with the silent world of flora? Do the relationships resemble the ones we have with other people or animals? Or maybe they are more like the ones we have with spectres, ghosts or our dead ancestors, whose presence is felt but are impossible to interact with? What does it mean to pet a cactus in the age of the Anthropocene? Can we venture beyond the usual understanding of plants as aesthetic objects occasionally invested with spiritual meanings? What happens when we start to trace their economic value and entanglement within social and political history?
In this spirit, over the course of the evening, a unique cinematic and transmedial herbarium will unfold – a sequence of short films, installations and objects dedicated to the fascinating relationships between humans and plants with a particular focus on economic and political issues.
Join for this informal evening, food and drinks will be provided for a small donation!
List of movies:
– JOHN BALDESSARI, Teaching a Plant the Alphabet
1972, 18:08 min.
– DAVID CLAERBOUT, Travel
1996-2013, 12 min.
– Movie Excerpt: Burden of Dreams by LES BLANK WITH MAUREEN GOSLING
1982, 2:38 min.
– JESSICA RINLAND, Adeline for Leaves
2014, 13:24 min.
– ZHENG BO, Pteridophilia 1
2016, 17 min.
– YTO BARRADA, The Botanist
2008, 20:23 min.
– STEFFEN MEYN, Chronik einer Razzia – Wiesendurchsuchung am Hambacher Forst
2018, 8:20 min
– BEATRIZ SANTIAGO MUNOZ, Ojos para mis enemigos
2014, 14 min.
– IGOR AND IVAN BUHAROV, Selection of newer short movies
– JUMANA EMIL ABBOUD, I feel nothing
2012-2013, 8:06 min.
– PIA RÖNICKE, Peregrinus
2016, 20 min.
– CANDICE LIN, La Charada China
2018, 13:45 min.
List of artworks presented in space:
MARTHIN ROZO, Drawings of Life, 2015
VERA DREBUSCH, Konserven, 2012
BINIAM GRAFFÉ, Pietà, 2017
JUDITH RÖDER, Fenster V, 2018
PAULA PEDRAZA, Humid thoughts from Advent of a Haunt, 2018
MIRA RACHEL HANAK, The hidden power, 2018
During the evening it will be possible to buy SURPLUS X FLORAPHILIA artworks. SURPLUS lies at the intersection of visual arts, poetry, fashion and activism. A limited edition of T-shirts and hoodies has been produced with slogans referring to the world of flora.
Floraphilia: On the Interrelations of the Plant World, Botany and Colonialism is a two-year project of the Academy of the Arts of the World in Cologne. It consists of an exhibition Floraphilia. Plants as archives in Academyspace (on view until 18 11), a symposium in the botanical garden and a sequence of events and exhibitions in 2019 (for example at SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin, Council in Paris, La Loge in Brussels and Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków).
Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation
