New conceptions of vegetal life are emerging. Groundbreaking scientific research and new philosophical perspectives are raising botanical challenges to our anthropocentric cultural background assumptions. As climate change threatens all forms of life on the planet, considering ecological interconnectedness and human/plant relationships from new perspectives is essential to addressing urgent issues of mutual sustainability.
Through a discussion of contemporary artworks, Giovanni Aloi (Art History, Theory, and Criticism; School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and editor-in-chief, Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture) maps the paradoxes and contradictions that characterize our relationships with plants as defined by capitalism.
