Monika Bakke's guest appearances

Monika Bakke

Critical Environments

Philip Steinberg

Franklin Ginn

Wendy Wheeler

John Mowitt

Daniel Fernández Pascual

Alon Schwabe

OwlTail

Plants historically have been located between the mineral and animal worlds. Not only did they occupy the perplexing border area between the living and nonliving, and were therefore called living crystals, they were also denied any sensitivity or capability for decision making. This talk will investigate how recent philosophical inquiries into plant lives, art practices involving their bodily presence, and the scientific discoveries of plant biologists lead to a conclusion that plants, although occupying a position of full visibility, have been seriously overlooked. Bearing in mind that the evolutionary paths of plants and animals split about two billion years ago, we rediscover plants, observing how they developed their own peculiar body plans, life styles and modes of reproduction, which now come to our attention as a source of inspiration in postanthropocentric efforts to find yet another way of being together.Monika Bakke writes on contemporary art and aesthetics, with a particular focus on posthumanist, gender and cross-cultural perspectives. She lectures in the Philosophy Department at the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland. She is the author of two books: Bio-transfigurations: Art and Aesthetics of Posthumanism (2010, in Polish) and Open Body (2000, in Polish), co-author of Pleroma: Art in Search of Fullness (1998), and editor of Australian Aboriginal Aesthetics (2004, in Polish), Going Aerial: Air, Art, Architecture (2006) and The Life od Air: Dwelling, Communicating, Manipulating (2011). Since 2001 she has been an editor of the Polish cultural journal Czas Kultury (Time of Culture).

Plants historically have been located between the mineral and animal worlds. Not only did they occupy the perplexing border area between the living and nonliving, and were therefore called living crystals, they were also denied any sensitivity or capability for decision making. This talk will investigate how recent philosophical inquiries into plant lives, art practices involving their bodily presence, and the scientific discoveries of plant biologists lead to a conclusion that plants, although occupying a position of full visibility, have been seriously overlooked. Bearing in mind that the evolutionary paths of plants and animals split about two billion years ago, we rediscover plants, observing how they developed their own peculiar body plans, life styles and modes of reproduction, which now come to our attention as a source of inspiration in postanthropocentric efforts to find yet another way of being together.<br><br>Monika Bakke writes on contemporary art and aesthetics, with a particular focus on posthumanist, gender and cross-cultural perspectives. She lectures in the Philosophy Department at the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland. She is the author of two books: Bio-transfigurations: Art and Aesthetics of Posthumanism (2010, in Polish) and Open Body (2000, in Polish), co-author of Pleroma: Art in Search of Fullness (1998), and editor of Australian Aboriginal Aesthetics (2004, in Polish), Going Aerial: Air, Art, Architecture (2006) and The Life od Air: Dwelling, Communicating, Manipulating (2011). Since 2001 she has been an editor of the Polish cultural journal Czas Kultury (Time of Culture).

Monika Bakke - The crystal life of vigilant plants