In a time of enforced stillness and isolation, our relationship with the natural world has taken on new significance. Camden Art Centre has launched a digital exhibition exploring the intelligence of the vegetal kingdom and its profound influence on humanity through time.
The exhibition, ‘The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and The Cosmic Tree’ was due to open physically on Earth Day (22 April), but in response to current lockdown measures, has been postponed. In the meantime, the north London gallery has launched ‘The Botanical Mind Online’, a complimentary online programme placing contemporary art, historical artefacts and radical schools of thought on plant life in a cross-era dialogue.
Joachim Koester, Untitled (cannabis), 2019. Silver Gelatin Print.
Shedding a holistic light on the significance of plants to human culture, from the indigenous traditions of the Amazon rainforest to new philosophies, the online initiative seeks to explore our physical, psychological and increasingly complex relationship with the natural world.
Through new artist commissions, films, and podcasts featuring leading voices the fields of science, anthropology, music and art, the platform spotlights a breadth of theories on themes of plant intelligence and spirituality, from quantum biology to queer nature. Viewers can dive into surrealist, modernist and contemporary perspectives, as well as an expanding archive of historical manuscripts, textiles and ethnographic artefacts spanning 500 years.
DAS INSTITUT, Dark Codex (detail), 2016 from Almanac, Eclipses and Venus, Cycles series. Courtesy the artists
Archival and new material from artists, thinkers, musicians and writers including contributions from Carl Jung, Linder and Carol Bove are staged in tandem with new digital art commissions from artists including DAS INSTITUT, Adam Chodzko and Joachim Koester.
This is a time of increasing tension between visible and non-visible forces: the micro threat of a virus and the looming impact of climate change. ‘The Botanical Mind Online’ provides a space for personal engagement, and an arena for global, trans-cultural visions on the deeply rooted relationship between human and non-human life
INFORMATION
The postponed physical edition of ’The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and The Cosmic Tree’ runs until 23 December 2020 at Camden Art Centre. camdenartcentre.org
ADDRESS
Camden Art Centre
Arkwright Rd
London NW3 6DG
-
What is the role of fragrance in contemporary culture, asks a new exhibition at 10 Corso ComoMilan concept store 10 Corso Como has partnered with London creative agency System Preferences to launch Olfactory Projections 01
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
'We need to be constantly reminded of our similarities' – Jonathan Baldock challenges the patriarchal roots of a former Roman temple in LondonThrough use of ceramics and textiles, British artist Jonathan Baldock creates a magical and immersive exhibition at ‘0.1%’ at London's Mithraum Bloomberg Space
-
Discover Rotimi Fani-Kayode's fluid photographs of the queer male body, on show in London‘Rotimi-Fani Kayode: The Studio – Staging Desire’ at Autograph ABP celebrates the work of the Nigerian-born photographer
-
Saatchi Gallery is in full bloom with floral works from Vivienne Westwood, Marimekko, Buccellati and more‘Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture’ at Saatchi Gallery, London, explores the relationship between creatives and their floral muses, and spans from fashion and jewellery to tattoos
-
'I want to get into these images and perfume them': Linder's retrospective opens at the Hayward Gallery'Linder: Danger Came Smiling' gathers fifty years of the artist's work at the Hayward Gallery. We meet the punk provocateur ahead of her first retrospective
-
Tasneem Sarkez's heady mix of kitsch, Arabic and Americana hits LondonArtist Tasneem Sarkez draws on an eclectic range of references for her debut solo show, 'White-Knuckle' at Rose Easton
-
‘A call to action for more authentic expressions of working-class life’: a London show reframes working-class BritainLondon exhibition ‘Lives Less Ordinary’, at Two Temple Place, challenges age-old stereotypes
-
‘Dr Tetris’ on the biggest ever iteration of the puzzle in LondonTetris comes to 360-degree, 23,000 sq ft, 16k LED screens in London; Craig McLean speaks to Henk Rogers, the man who’s kept the game alive
-
Never-before-seen Barbara Hepworth works go on show in landmark exhibitionIn ‘Barbara Hepworth: Strings’, various Hepworth sculptures will be exhibited in public for the first time, at Piano Nobile, London
