Plants by Numbers

Hardcover, 288 pages

English language

Published 2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

ISBN:: 978-1-350-34496-9

(1 review)

This open access book takes a queer, feminist, and decolonial technoscience approach to the ecologies that emerge from our entanglements with nonhumans (air, rocks, algae, trees, soil and plants) and computational hard/software. In Plants by Numbers, artists and theorists working with computation address the urgent need to think beyond the human paradigm, opening up new fields of debate that question the troubled relationship between ecosystems and human technology.

Organised around three key themes--techno-nature entanglements, plants as resistant agents, and becoming-with-plants--the volume provides a vital pathway through complex theoretical ideas that inform the practices of artists working in the fields of computation and ecology.

Fusing art theoretical and art practice approaches, the contributors describe how we might design, make and imagine computational processes differently, or otherwise, through the co-production of artworks with plants. Showing how these artworks might act as communicative media between the biological and technological, Plants by Numbers opens …

This open access book takes a queer, feminist, and decolonial technoscience approach to the ecologies that emerge from our entanglements with nonhumans (air, rocks, algae, trees, soil and plants) and computational hard/software. In Plants by Numbers, artists and theorists working with computation address the urgent need to think beyond the human paradigm, opening up new fields of debate that question the troubled relationship between ecosystems and human technology.

Organised around three key themes--techno-nature entanglements, plants as resistant agents, and becoming-with-plants--the volume provides a vital pathway through complex theoretical ideas that inform the practices of artists working in the fields of computation and ecology.

Fusing art theoretical and art practice approaches, the contributors describe how we might design, make and imagine computational processes differently, or otherwise, through the co-production of artworks with plants. Showing how these artworks might act as communicative media between the biological and technological, Plants by Numbers opens up new potential areas of research whilst producing new ethical-political engagements.

The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the University of Michigan.

2 editions

Fionnáin reviewed Plants by Numbers by Jane Prophet

Thoughtful artistic research with plants

4 stars

Plants by Numbers is an edited compilation of fourteen chapters by artists and researchers who work with plants. In most cases, the plants are collaborators or contributors, and are also part of developing anti-colonial or critical narratives, using the human-plant relationship to highlight or critique human behaviours. Great credit is due to the editors, as this carefully curated selection is made up of voices that are so careful to not unintentionally exclude or diminish many peripheral voices. Throughout the book, space is repeatedly given over to these voices, and I was really grateful for this.

As in any collection of essays, there are some that resonated less with me and some that are standout. Co-editor Jane Prophet's personal chapter on colonialism, ethics and trees is one of the best chapters, as is Amy M Youngs' thoughtful works with plants and people. Sina Seifee's project on the trees of Tehran is …

Plants by Numbers is an edited compilation of fourteen chapters by artists and researchers who work with plants. In most cases, the plants are collaborators or contributors, and are also part of developing anti-colonial or critical narratives, using the human-plant relationship to highlight or critique human behaviours. Great credit is due to the editors, as this carefully curated selection is made up of voices that are so careful to not unintentionally exclude or diminish many peripheral voices. Throughout the book, space is repeatedly given over to these voices, and I was really grateful for this.

As in any collection of essays, there are some that resonated less with me and some that are standout. Co-editor Jane Prophet's personal chapter on colonialism, ethics and trees is one of the best chapters, as is Amy M Youngs' thoughtful works with plants and people. Sina Seifee's project on the trees of Tehran is wonderfully written up, and the art throughout the book is very clearly and thoughtfully presented.

Subjects

Art