Roots & Seeds XXI GARDEN - Ars Electronica festival. 8-12 September, 2021

8 - 12 September 2021

What is a garden? Is it the same for a scientist, for a philosopher, for a visual artist, for a gardener, for the birds nesting in the trees and bushes, for the worms and bacteria in the soil, for the plants themselves? What is a garden for you?.

On this year Ars Electronica Festival, Roots & Seeds XXI second "Multidisciplinary Garden Cartography" will take place. This edition will be organised by Ars Electronica team and it will be developed at the Campus of Johannes Kepler University on September 10th & 11th.

In addition, hosted in our Quo Artis online garden, we will present two video capsules that reflect on the Biodiversity Crisis and the potential of Art and Science professionals working together.

You're invited to visit our digital garden during the festival!

LINK: https://ars.electronica.art/newdigitaldeal/de/roots-seeds/

ABOUT THE VIDEOS

What is the Biodiversity Crisis?

Speaker: Lucio Montecchio

During the last years, the discourses around the loss of biodiversity and more sustainable production and consumption models have advanced widely in the fields of natural sciences, social sciences and new technologies. However, our actions individually and collectively are lagging behind. We call it "loss of biodiversity", but this is not a loss, we are killing biodiversity through our behaviour.

How can we change this and co-create a more sustainable future?

Multidisciplinary Garden Cartographies

Speaker: Claudia Schnugg

During the Roots & Seeds XXI workshops, participants from different fields (artists, scientists, philosophers, researchers, curators, cultural agents, and others), whose practices are linked to the plant world in different ways, will analyse the crisis of biodiversity with the intention of proposing sustainable ways of relating to nature. During the event, the participants will carry out a joint mapping of a garden. Beyond its taxonomic information, this cartography will have the intention of making visible discourses that consider plants as agents and not as resources.

Through these workshops, Roots & Seeds XXI seeks to safeguard and promote botanical heritage, weaving scientific knowledge with storytelling and humanities. In this way, the “Multidisciplinary Garden Cartography” will promote the creative potential of artists and scientists working together, fostering multidisciplinary collaboration networks and hybrid methodologies.

ABOUT THE CARTOGRAPHY - September 10 & 11 

Hosted by Veronika Krenn, this activity will structure on two days of work, where well-known cultural agents will present "inspirational talks" to the open public, between them: Masha Ru, from Studio on Museum of Edible Earth and Andreas Zingerle, from BOKU University.

Jointly, at the Campus of Johannes Kepler University and its surroundings (park, urban gardens, woodland, farmland), the experimental mapping of the garden will take place.