Resting with Pines in Nida – attempts at performing with plants

Authors

  • Annette Arlander University of the Arts Stockholm

Keywords:

performing with plants, pine trees, performance for camera, vegetal, new materialism, artistic research, performance as research

Abstract

Is it possible to respond to the challenge of a philosopher with artistic means, rather than on the one hand by attempting to philosophize, or on the other hand by resorting to illustration or application? Perhaps it is not. This text is nevertheless an attempt at responding to the challenge posed to artists by Michael Marder who, in volume 1 of this journal, challenged philosophers and artists ‘to include the spatiality, movement, and perspective of the vegetal in their work’ (Marder 2015, 192). The artistic research project ‘Performing with plants’ could be understood as a response to this challenge. In this text I will briefly outline the plan for the project, relate it to the current interest in plant thinking, plant theory and new materialist feminist theory and then focus on some works loosely related to the project, which seem to resonate with Marder’s challenge in some sense. The variations of Resting with Pines performed in September 2017 in Nida Art Colony on the Curonian spit in Lithuania will serve as attempts to include and even emulate the vegetal, and as an example of a characteristic common to many performance practices, namely the tendency to go on, to ‘keep growing’.

Author Biography

Annette Arlander, University of the Arts Stockholm

Annette Arlander is professor of performance art and theory at Stockholm University of the Arts; visiting researcher at University of the Arts Helsinki Fine Arts Academy. https://annettearlander.com

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Published

01-02-2019

How to Cite

“Resting With Pines in Nida – Attempts at Performing With Plants”. 2019. Performance Philosophy 4 (2): 452-75. https://doi.org/10.21476/PP.2019.42232.

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

“Resting With Pines in Nida – Attempts at Performing With Plants”. 2019. Performance Philosophy 4 (2): 452-75. https://doi.org/10.21476/PP.2019.42232.