Vegetal agency in distributed more-than-human choreographies

(Abstract) [verified] read from the PDF, p. 1

This paper refers to an ongoing interdisciplinary, art-based research project which aims to question the disembodied rationale of Western epistemology and related regimes of dominant knowledge by focusing on vegetal agency. Following the approach of “Plant Thinking”, sphagnum mosses become the protagonists in this endeavor, as they are to be considered as key regulators of peatland ecosystems resisting the severe consequences of anthropogenic interference such as desiccation. Informed by feminist posthumanism the project aims to transgress the distinction between subject and object by tracing the formation of configurations, where nature and culture construct each other. The project involves two mutually informative art-based strategies of inquiry which both use mimesis as a lens: Based on a period of gathering data via field experiments, interviews and walks with biologists, audiovisual research about peatland and mosses, a laboratory experience space was created which invites the audience to immerse themselves in a living archive of mosses. The second strategy of inquiry addresses the interaction between the audience and the specimens. This is made possible by using artificial intelligence models mediating between the audience and the biomes and communities, the mosses interact with. By training a number of specialized LORA models with the collected hundreds of images of biomes and specimens, we can prompt those AI models to turn participants into plants, fungi, soil and whole ecosystems that move along with them. The project invites to participate in seemingly rational practices of objectification such as collecting, inspecting, sorting and categorizing and juxtaposes them with seemingly affective practices of performance and dance. By activating the entire body to explore the dynamics of vegetal phenomena, the project critically approached the disembodied rationale of Western epistemology thereby exposing the dichotomy of human activity and plant passivity as a myth. The result is a distributed choreography involving human and more-than-human actors.

(Keywords) post-humanism, artificial intelligence, art-based research, ecosystems, performance, more-than-human choreographies

Vegetal agency in distributed more-than-human choreographies

(Zum Beitrag)

Der Beitrag macht Torfmoose (Sphagnum) zu Protagonisten einer künstlerischen Forschung, die das körperlose Denken der westlichen Erkenntnistheorie befragt. Ein Laborraum lädt in ein lebendes Archiv der Moose ein; KI-Modelle, trainiert mit Bildern von Biomen und Proben, verwandeln die Bewegungen der Teilnehmenden in Pflanzen, Pilze und Böden. Daraus entsteht eine verteilte Choreografie menschlicher und mehr-als-menschlicher Akteure.

(Kurzfassung, englisch) [verifiziert] aus dem PDF gelesen, S. 1

This paper refers to an ongoing interdisciplinary, art-based research project which aims to question the disembodied rationale of Western epistemology and related regimes of dominant knowledge by focusing on vegetal agency. Following the approach of “Plant Thinking”, sphagnum mosses become the protagonists in this endeavor, as they are to be considered as key regulators of peatland ecosystems resisting the severe consequences of anthropogenic interference such as desiccation. Informed by feminist posthumanism the project aims to transgress the distinction between subject and object by tracing the formation of configurations, where nature and culture construct each other. The project involves two mutually informative art-based strategies of inquiry which both use mimesis as a lens: Based on a period of gathering data via field experiments, interviews and walks with biologists, audiovisual research about peatland and mosses, a laboratory experience space was created which invites the audience to immerse themselves in a living archive of mosses. The second strategy of inquiry addresses the interaction between the audience and the specimens. This is made possible by using artificial intelligence models mediating between the audience and the biomes and communities, the mosses interact with. By training a number of specialized LORA models with the collected hundreds of images of biomes and specimens, we can prompt those AI models to turn participants into plants, fungi, soil and whole ecosystems that move along with them. The project invites to participate in seemingly rational practices of objectification such as collecting, inspecting, sorting and categorizing and juxtaposes them with seemingly affective practices of performance and dance. By activating the entire body to explore the dynamics of vegetal phenomena, the project critically approached the disembodied rationale of Western epistemology thereby exposing the dichotomy of human activity and plant passivity as a myth. The result is a distributed choreography involving human and more-than-human actors.

(Schlagwörter, englisch) post-humanism, artificial intelligence, art-based research, ecosystems, performance, more-than-human choreographies