Interview With a Plant, 2025
Welcome to a talk show where the guest is a houseplant. The plant has been kindly lent to the talk show by Aarhus University, and has learned to understand Danish by picking up the vibrations of human voices in the air.
By using newly developed scientific methods we can translate the plant's signals into words: the vibrations of the leaves, micro-voltage in the roots and airborne chemicals are translated into words using an advanced algorithm based on artificial intelligence.
What does the plant want to tell us? What does it want to know? Can we even begin to understand how a plant senses the world and how it interacts with other living beings? Does it have thoughts? Does it have desires? Does it have a sense of humour? (-it does, in a way). The plant has agreed to participate in the interview in exchange for a small “favour”...
The project debuted at PERFORMING LANDSCAPES on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen in 2025. More live presentations to come!
(The second photo on this page is by Marine Gastineau, the others are by Jacob Juhl).
Reading List
In doing my research for this project I have come across a number of very inspiring books and articles. For those who are as curious as I am, here is a list of some of them. Some titles are only in Danish, and the list is in no particular order.
FICTION
Richard Powers - the Overstory
Sue Burke - Semiosis
Ursula K. Le Guin - The Word For World is Forest
Ursula K. Le Guin - The Author of the Acacia Seeds
Charlotte Weitze - Rosarium
NON-FICTION
Zoë Schlanger - The Lighteaters
Cecilie Rubow - Indendørsmenneskets natur
George Monbiot - Regenesis
Connectedness. Anthology, editor: Marianne Krogh
Graham Harman - Object-Oriented Ontology
Ny Jord, no. 1-5. Series of anthologies
Robin Wall Kimmerer - Braiding Sweetgrass
Jane Bennett - Vibrant Matter
Donna Haraway - Staying with the Trouble
Emanuele Coccia - The Life of Plants
ARTICLES FROM:
New Scientist
Videnskab.dk
Emergence Magazine
Short excerpts from the performance.