LASER PARIS, "Alone or in Mound?"

Special Roots & Seeds XXI project

Where: Cité Internationale des Arts, Auditorium, 18, rue de l'Hôtel de Ville 75004 Paris

When: Thursday 21^st April, 19h00 - 21h30, Free admission, register here!

with

Laura Cinti, artist and Debbie Jewitt, conservation scientist for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the provincial conservation authority for KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. - The Living Dead - On the trail of a female (2022)

How to reproduce when you are the last male of your species and all the females have disappeared?No science fiction here but the reality of Encephalartos woodii, a tropical plant of the cycad family of which only one male remained and whose clones live in botanical gardens.What to do when faced with the loss of a species? Should it be preserved no matter what, should it be recreated?

Laura Cinti, in collaboration with the conservation scientist Debbie Jewitt, went in search of a hypothetical female in the South African forests where E. woodii originated.

Mounds and heaps are "treasure boxes" for archaeologists but also for ethnobiologists and conservation specialists. Between "archive" and "instrument of life evolution", these piles and heaps are at the heart of the collaboration between Marit Mihklepp, recipient of the Roots & Seeds XXI Residence - Maison Malina and Meredith Root-Bernstein, researcher at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, who will report about their exploration of the Parisian accumulations, piles and holes.

Marit Mihklepp, artist and Meredith Root-Bernstein, Ethnobiologist, ecologist, conservation scientist, CNRS researcher at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, about their collaboration during Marit Mihklepp Maison Malina Leonardo/Olats Residency.

The LASER Paris Meeting of April 21st 2022 is co-organized by Leonardo/Olats (www.olats.org) and La Diagonale Paris-Saclay (http://www.ladiagonale-paris-saclay.fr) with the support of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation (https://www.fondationcarasso.org/) and the Creative Europe Programme of the Eurpean Union, in collaboration with the Cité internationale des arts (https://www.citedesartsparis.net/) and the Laboratory TEAMeD of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis University and the Research University School ArTeC.

The LASER Paris Meeting of April 21st 2022 is organised as part of the "Roots & Seeds XXI. Biodiversity crisis and plant resistance" project and receives as such a support from the Creative Europe progamme of the European Union.

"Roots & Seeds XXI" partners, Quo Artis (lead), Ars Electronica, Leonardo/Olats, University of Barcelona, in collaboration with the Botanical Institut Barcelona.

SPONSORS:

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 50 cities around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website. @lasertalks