Art
2019
Špela Petrič
Institute for Inconspicuous Languages: Reading Lips
This laboratory follows nearly-future events that have been documented by the journal Science; namely a paper in which scientists describe the first meaningful exchange between a plant and a human, which can be described more broadly as a conversation. The experiment requires exceptional patience and total dedication from both sides - after 18 years of mutual learning, the Tradescantia plant and the human researcher can understand each other's signs. At the Institute for Inconspicuous Languages, we avoid those decades of dedication and can peer into the psyche of the plant by carefully reading its lips using natural and artificial intelligence. What do the plants say?
About Špela Petrič
Špela Petrič, BSc, MA, PhD, is a Slovenian new media artist and former scientific researcher currently based between Ljubljana, SI and Amsterdam, NL. Her practice is a multi-species endeavor, a deviant composite that draws from natural sciences, wet media, and performances. She seeks to envision artistic experiments that involve strange relationships in hopes of enriching our adjacent possibilities. Much of her recent work focuses on plant life.
Co-curator Planet B
Planet B is an international mission to establish a science, art, and technology museum for the 21st century initiated by Waag in collaboration with Amsterdam Science Park (ASP). It responds to the growing need for an interdisciplinary and inclusive design approach to our future: the age-old civic spirit of Amsterdam is continued in the tradition where not kings and emperors, but citizens collaborate and create, thereby shaping the future of the world together. Since its establishment in 2018, the expedition towards ITGWO has been the first public step of Planet B.
Špela Petrič - https://www.spelapetric.org/
