Performing and thinking with trees

How to collaborate with other beings we share this planet with is a central task for artists today. The starting point for these texts was the realization that we must find ways of relating to the environment that are meaningful from the perspectives of the ecological crisis and a new-materialist and post-humanist understanding of our place in the world. They suggest that artistic research can contribute by allowing for and generating hybrid forms of performing and thinking. Performing and Thinking with Trees summarises the various strategies of lens-based work used in two artistic research projects by Annette Arlander, namely Performing with Plants (2017–2019) and Meetings with Remarkable and Unremarkable Trees (2020–2021). The focus of these essays is on artistic practices, enhanced by some philosophical discussions related to vegetal life. They seek to contribute to critical plant studies as well as to demonstrate what the outputs of artistic research beyond doctoral work might look like.I Introduction -- Performing with Plants -- Critical plant studies -- Meetings with Remarkableand Unremarkable Trees -- II Performing with Trees -- Performing for a camera on a tripod -- Framing and distance -- Place and partner -- Action and position -- Costume -- Collaboration -- Temporality and schedule -- Writing -- Video essays -- Media formats -- III Thinking with Trees -- Situated knowledge -- Producers of space -- Breathing with plants -- Growing beings -- Plants performing -- Performing “with” -- Plants thinking -- Thinking as learning -- IV Concluding remarks -- Appendix.Vertaisarvioitu. Peer-reviewed

Looking at (Overlooked) Lichen: Visual Journaling as Part of Meetings with Remarkable and Unremarkable Trees

The daily practice of photographing lichen on bark developed from my interest in the bark of trees during the project Performing with Plants (2017-2019) and continued during the project Meetings with Remarkable and Unremarkable Trees (2020-2021). In this essay I return to these visual fieldnotes, compare the visual diary on Flickr with my previous journals on social media, and consider the potential of such practices for developing awareness of and a respectful relationship to other beings that we share this planet with.

Writing with a Pine : Addressing a Tree as Audience

Writing letters to trees next to the trees with a camera as witness is a practice connected to the problem of speaking for, with, or to others. Addressing the tree as an audience rather than speaking about the tree, or as the tree, or on behalf of the tree, is here explored as one way of encountering trees. This poses new problems; by treating plants as persons, rather than acknowledging the vegetal in me, do I neglect our joint participation in zoe, and disregard our trans-corporeality? Is addressing the tree in writing actually making our relationship more fictional compared to simply breathing and appearing together? - The text consists of four parts, including a prologue, the letter, a dialogue with critical references and an epilogue. Besides exploring the problem of addressing a tree, the aim is to demonstrate how artistic research can allow seemingly contradictory approaches to coexist on an experiential level

Writing with a Pine: Addressing a Tree as Audience

Writing letters to trees next to the trees with a camera as witness is a practice connected to the problem of speaking for, with, or to others. Addressing the tree as an audience rather than speaking about the tree, or as the tree, or on behalf of the tree, is here explored as one way of encountering trees. This poses new problems; by treating plants as persons, rather than acknowledging the vegetal in me, do I neglect our joint participation in zoe, and disregard our trans-corporeality? Is addressing the tree in writing actually making our relationship more fictional compared to simply breathing and appearing together? - The text consists of four parts, including a prologue, the letter, a dialogue with critical references and an epilogue. Besides exploring the problem of addressing a tree, the aim is to demonstrate how artistic research can allow seemingly contradictory approaches to coexist on an experiential level.Kirjeiden kirjoittaminen puille niiden luona, kamera todistajana, kytkeytyy kysymykseen puhumisesta toisten puolesta, toisten kanssa tai toisille. Puun puhutteleminen yleisönä, sen sijaan että puhuisi puusta tai puuna tai puun puolesta, näyttäytyy tässä eräänä mahdollisuutena kohdata puu. Näin syntyy puolestaan uusia kysymyksiä: unohdanko jaetun olemassaolomme zoen piirissä ja jätän huomiotta ruumiidenvälisyytemme, kun kohtelen kasveja henkilöinä sen sijaan, että tunnistaisin kasvimaisuuden itsessäni? Verrattuna siihen, että vain hengittäisimme ja esiintyisimme yhdessä, lisääkö puun puhutteleminen kirjoittamalla tosiasiassa suhteemme kuvitteellisuutta? – Teksti koostuu neljästä osasta, sisältäen alkusanat, kirjeen, kriittisillä viitteillä täydennetyn vuoropuhelun ja jälkisanat. Pyrkimyksenä on, paitsi pohtia puun puhuttelemisen ongelmaa, näyttää miten taiteellinen tutkimus voi sallia keskenään vastakkaisilta vaikuttavien lähestymistapojen yhteisolemisen kokemuksen tasolla