Honorary Mention
Mit ihrem Projekt „The Plant Intelligence Plan“ widmet sich Tianyi Zhang der Intelligenz von Pflanzen. Sie nutzt biotechnologische Werkzeuge und Materialien, um die ökologischen Beziehungen zwischen kommerziell gezüchteten Nutzpflanzen und Tieren wiederherzustellen. Mit ihrem Projekt plädiert Tianyi Zhang für einen sorgsamen und respektvollen Umgang mit Pflanzen und meint damit nicht bloß einen besseren Schutz des irdischen Ökosystems, sondern den Aufbau einer neuen Ordnung der menschlichen Zivilisation. Die Beziehung zwischen Menschen und Ökologie soll von Grund auf neu gestaltet werden – Tianyi Zhang fordert dazu auf, unseren Anthropozentrismus zu überwinden und gleichberechtigte ökologische Beziehungen zu allen Lebewesen und Pflanzen zu knüpfen.
Credits
Artist: Zhang Tianyi (CN)
Photography: Zhang Tianyi (CN)
With support from: School of Design of the Central Academy of Fine Arts
Special thanks to: Chen Xiaowen, Fei Jun, Song Xiewei
Biography
Zhang Tianyi (CN) is a Beijing-based artist, currently a PhD in Art and Technology research at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing). She holds a master’s degree in Art and Technology from the School of Design of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and studied at the École Supérieure d’Art du Nord-Pas de Calais, France. Her creative and research interests are mainly in Ecological Art and BioArt. Her ecological artworks use interdisciplinary research as a creative method and regard technology as an important opportunity for ecological restoration. She is keen to explore new ecological restoration methods by combining machines and ecology, as well as new languages of Ecological Art. Based on the above Ecological Art practice, she discusses the relationship between humans and ecology in the latest scientific and technological context and the equal ecological relationship of non-anthropocentrism.
Jury Statement
“If intelligence is defined as the ability to solve problems, plants have a lot to teach us,” says Stefano Mancuso. This work brings us closer to an awareness of the plant kingdom and how all beings need each other in order to exist and coexist. None of the organisms that exist in nature are autonomous or independent; rather, all organisms (including humans) are part of complex interconnected ecosystems. In this same line of thought, many scientists like Mancuso agree that plants are living beings that communicate with each other and with other species, since they are social beings. The Plant Intelligence Plan posits a return to the non-anthropocentrism of egalitarian ecological relations and advocates rebuilding the order of human civilization instead of the values enhanced in the old regime by simply calling for ecological protection, thereby inspiring people to reflect on the relationship between humans and ecosystems. In this project, Tianyi Zhang starts from ecological relationships as a departure point and bases her work on research on the intelligence of plants, thus restoring the lost ecological connectivity between commercial crops and animals through biotechnology and biomaterials.