What shall I learn of beans or beans of me?
–Henry David Thoreau, diary entry, 7 July 1845
Scientists in the twenty-first century use the term 'Anthropocene' to describe the realisation that human beings profoundly change the ecology of the Earth. Parliament of Plants takes this insight to offer new ways of talking about the complex interconnections that link everything to everything else.
The artists in this exhibition question not only the Aristotelian position that regarded plants as close to the inorganic world, but also the Anthropocentric view that continues to define much of the Western world, even today.
The exhibition is presented as an open structure. Aspects such as self-organisation, identification, utopias, social relations between flora and human beings and a different perception of time are reflected in the works. Other topics include shame and sexuality, expansion of consciousness and transformation, inner and outer migration, medical, scientific and cosmic knowledge.
Participating artists
Paweł Althamer & Artur Zmijewski, Stefan Bertalan, Andrea Büttner, Edith Dekyndt, Jef Geys, Isabella Hollauf, Anna Jermolaewa, Jochen Lempert, Uriel Orlow, Kristine Oßwald, Athena Vida.
Additionally, 'cabinets of curiosities' will feature historical botanical books and a selection of films and artworks by John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Karl Blossfeldt, Mrs. Brakhan, Matthias Frick, Anton Frommelt, Paul Klee, Emma Kunz, Heinrich Anton Müller, Fritzi Libora-Reif, Rachel Ruysch, Therese Vallent and Sunhild Wollwage as cross-references and to create fields of associations.
Project space 'Parliament of Plants'
17 July 2020 – 28 March 2021 (extended)
As part of the exhibition, the admission-free 'Seitenlichtsaal' is conceived as a changing, growing project space. It links the immediate outside world with questions of art and will enable meetings between a wide range of scientific and artistic-poetic approaches to and perspectives on the plant kingdom. Initiatives, associations and protagonists from varied disciplines including botany, floriculture and horticulture, forestry and farming, (landscape) architecture, meteorology and art: all these will testify on their relationship with plants.
Contributions and presentations varying in scope and rhythm capture cyclical processes and demonstrate what is happening in nature now. The latest digital news and a regularly updated 'leafy' calendar afford an insight into growth and development in fields, forests and gardens. Dialogic guided tours, workshops and field trips complement and extend this space for encounter.
A production of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, curated by Christiane Meyer-Stoll with Annett Höland, co-curator of the project space.
Contributions by
Ackerschaft Verein, Vaduz, AMÚR Wien, Helena Becker, Botanisch-Zoologische Gesellschaft Liechtenstein-Sarganserland- Werdenberg e.V., Forstbetriebe Schaan/Planken und Vaduz, Gartenkooperative Region Liechtenstein-Werdenberg, Anna Hilti, Evi Kliemand, Liechtensteinische Gesellschaft für Umweltschutz, Liechtensteinisches Gymnasium, Obst- und Gartenbauverein Vaduz, Schweizer Phänologie-Beobachtungsnetz – Bundesamt für Meteorologie und Klimatologie MeteoSchweiz, Spriessbürger Verlag, Universität Liechtenstein – Institut für Architektur und Raumentwicklung und Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik, Verein Hortus, Balzers, and others.
Events with
baronebreu, Toni Büchel, Eveline Dudda, Sebastian Geiger, Peter Goop, Monika Gstöhl, Anette Herburger, Anna Hilti, Gerhard Konrad, Eva Körbitz, Gerlinde Manz-Christ, Marco Maierhofer, Anna Ospelt, Barbara Pietragalla, Marion Poschmann, Claudia Ospelt-Bosshard, Rainer Rappmann, Elisabeth Ritter, Trio Gleichklang, Peter Vogt and others.
Additional cooperation partners
Atelier Amden, Gemeinde Vaduz, inatura, Dornbirn, Junges Literaturhaus Liechtenstein, Kunstschule Liechtenstein, Liechtensteinische Kunstgesellschaft, Literaturhaus Liechtenstein, Skino, Schaan, Walserherbst Festival, Grosses Walsertal.
Presentations in the 'Seitenlichtsaal'
July 2020 to January 2021
Obst- und Gartenbauverein Vaduz
Flower competition "Vaduz in Flowers"
17 July – 16 August 2020
Liechtensteinisches Gymnasium (Kunst und Ethik)
Perception and representation – Reflecting on our relationship with plants
18 August – 6 September 2020
Exploring Landscape.Studio / Institute of Architecture and Planning, University of Liechtenstein
Landscape of Imagination
8 September – 12 September 2020
Anna Hilti / Die Wesentliche Eigenart aber liegt in der Blüte
A book by Anna Hilti (ed.), Georg Tscholl, Krispin Hee and Laura Locher, published by Spector Books, Leipzig
13 September – 20. September 2020
Wurzel-Wunderkammer
AMÚR Wien/Renate Burger, Elisabeth Handl
22 September – 27 September 2020
Verein Hortus
Rediscovering old varieties of fruit
29 September – 17 October 2020
Exploring Landscape.Studio / Institute of Architecture and Planning, University of Liechtenstein
The ideal landscape
20 October – 25 October 2020
The Ackerschaft association
Too valuable to be left unharvested
27 October – 1 November 2020
Studio Céline Baumann
Parliament of Plants
3 November – 8 November 2020
Swiss Phenology Network, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSchweiz)
Phenological observations: Eschen-Boja, 580 m a.s.l.
10 November – 29 November 2020
Schaan/Planken and Vaduz Forestry Services
Primeval forest, natural forest, commercial forest: A forest history of the past 150 years
24 November – 6 December 2020
Botanisch-Zoologische Gesellschaft Liechtenstein-Sarganserland-Werdenberg e.V.
50 Years of natural history research
8. December 2020 – 14 March 2021
Liechtensteinisches Gymnasium
School of thought
16 March – 28 March 2021
