LASER Talks QLD-NSW: Plant Thinking - Listening - Feeling | Leonardo/ISASTwith Arizona State University

LASER Talks QLD-NSW: Plant Thinking - Listening - Feeling

The Leonardo/ISAST LASERs are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. Join us for an evening of talks about the art and science of working creatively with plants.

Join us for an evening of talks about the art and science of working creatively with plants. At this event, research scientist Monica Gagliano and artist and curator Danni Zuvela will reflect on their work with plants in the lab, the studio and the field, exploring the ways plants can be understood as sensing and communicating beings.

This event is a Leonardo/ISAST LASER talk convened by Elizabeth Stephens and Grayson Cooke, presented in association with HOTA, the Gold Coast Home of the Arts, and the “Lyrical Landscapes” exhibition on the work of William Robinson.

This event will take place at 6pm, Thursday August 5th, both in the Basement Theatre at HOTA, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, QLD, and online on Zoom.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER


Monica Gagliano: “Feeling for Not-Knowing: A Radical Approach to Plant Science”

Scientists are trained to think that “feeling” is not simply irrelevant but antithetical to their experimental methodologies.  That scientists are not simply objectively trained minds but also bodies that feel has been an important perspective for reimagining scientific knowledge—bodies situated in time, place, and moved through relations. In this talk I explore how a scientist comes to make sense of feeling and knowing – and the relations “between” – throughout changing experimental configurations in pea plant decision-making, and I offer an invitation to explore creative and collaborative practices of science-making.  

Danni Zuvela: “Why Listen to Plants (When you can Look at Them)?”

The idea that plants are sentient beings is a persistent theme in human history. But what was once the preserve of mystics, hippies and folklorists is increasingly being shown to have a significant basis in science: plants are aware of themselves in their environment, they feel and they communicate. This talk will overview artists and experimental musicians working - sometimes controversially - with plants, grounded within the world of plant-listening and told from Danni’s perspective as a curator and artist working with plant sound.


Monica Gagliano is a Research Associate Professor in evolutionary ecology. A former fellow of the Australian Research Council, she is Research Associate Professor (adjunct) at the University of Western Australia and a Member of the Sydney Environment Institute (SEI) at the University of Sydney. She is currently based at Southern Cross University where she directs the BI Biological Intelligence Lab as part of the Diverse Intelligences Initiative of the Templeton World Charity Foundation. Her work has extended the concept of cognition (including perception, learning processes, memory) in plants. Her latest book is Thus Spoke the Plant (North Atlantic Books, 2018). https://www.monicagagliano.com/.

Danni Zuvela is a curator and artist whose work explores the agency of non-human others.  As Artistic Co-Director of Liquid Architecture, the national sound art organisation, she helped generate a context for artists working with sound and listening, developing research-based investigations into sonic phenomena, sound as a social currency and political acts of listening. Since 2018, she has been working on the curatorial project Why Listen to Plants?, which encompasses exhibitions, performances, workshops, publications and a curriculum. As an artist, her SEAWEED SOCIETY project cultivates an appreciation for seaweed from a queer ecology perspective, while her ORCHID HOUSE project listens from the perspective of endangered species, drawing together research from scientists, home gardeners and orchid enthusiasts to transform spaces into environments in which the plant’s voice is centred. https://dannizuvela.com.


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The Leonardo/ISAST LASERs are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of the LASERs is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 40 cities around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website. @lasertalks

When
August 5th, 2021 from  6:00 PM to  7:30 PM
Location
HOTA
135 Bundall Road
Surfers Paradise, QLD 4217
Australia