Botanical Comrades 植物同志 Plants Practice Politics

On November 7th, which marks the Solar Term Beginning of Winter (立冬) in the East Asian lunisolar calendar, artist and theorist Zheng Bo was joined by biologist Regine Hengge, Principal Investigator of »Matters of Activity« among others to speculate about how plants practice politics.

Zheng understands politics as a bodily practice that can only take place in exchange with others, particularly through interspecies relationships. For instance, trees are protected and nourished by fungi, while insects are responsible for pollination. Within the framework of Falling Walls x Berlin Science Week »Botanical Comrades 植物同志. Plants Practice Politics« examines forms of interspecies communication and asks how humans can take part in interspecies politics.

1:00–2:00 pm
Conversation and Live Diagramming with Regine Hengge & Zheng Bo

2:30–3:30 pm
Walk with Roosa Laitinen & Zheng Bo

4:00–5:00
Round-Table-Discussion with Matthias Rillig, Roosa Laitinen, Regine Hengge & Zheng Bo

The event was broadcast as a livestream. During the Round-Table-Discussion (4:00-5:00 pm) viewers were invited to ask questions using the Vimeo Q&A tool.

The event took place in cooperation with Schering Stiftung.

Find out more here.