Speaking Plants: the art of living systems
We live in an era of highly provisional boundaries between the natural and the technological. Our bodies, environment and surroundings, materials and textures, the sense of reality itself – all of it is intertwined with engineering solutions, algorithms, and data. Technologies do not merely help us interact with living systems – they become an extension of them.
Technological reality is our environment.
In many fields where contemporary technologies enable us/humans to interact with other living systems – animals, plants, fungi, bacteria – artists often approach these processes more critically than engineers.
How can we use data to design alternative scenarios of the evolution of living organisms? How might an organism change if technologies radically alter the conditions in which it lives? How do technological solutions help us to rebuild our relationships with nature?
In this talk, I offer to explore these and related questions through three theoretical frameworks: code, network, and interface. Each represents a distinct operational principle that shapes how living matter comes into contact with technological media. We will examine these principles through specific case studies drawn from international artistic practice.
Olga Remneva| RU/GR
Olga Remneva (based in Athens, Greece) – PhD in cultural studies, art&science and technology-based expert, curator, art historian, art consultant, educator. Associate professor at ITMO University. TEDx speaker, Next Generation Foresight Practitioners fellow and judge. 10 exhibitions curated, 50+ educational programs designed, 700+ hours of lectures and public talks given in 20+ cities and at international online events. Key previous experience: Founder and Curator of VZOR Lab, Head of the ‘Management in the Creative Arts’ Bachelor Program at Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (official academic partner – Manchester University, United Kingdom), Deputy Head of Artistic and Interdisciplinary Programs Department at National Centre for Contemporary Arts (Moscow), Gallery Spaces Coordinator at Ars Electronica (Austria), Art Manager at Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art, Coordinator of the Parallel Program at Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art. The PhD title is ‘Mastering nature with science-art methods: so-called natural and so-called technological’.