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about
In times marked by environmental crises, social polarization, and rising hate speech, our project “Festival Botánicas de la Ternura” opens space for collective reflection and imagination, exploring new ways of connecting with one another and with other forms of life, rooted in tenderness and care.
We look at plants as those who sustain and generate the conditions that make life on Earth possible, and we ask: How do we relate to our environment and with other forms of life (human and non-human)? How might tenderness can shape these relationships? Can we reclaim and reimagine botany to create other ways of approaching knowledge grounded in tenderness and care?
Through dialogue between science, the arts, and society, we will awake new imaginaries around the care of life, think and rehearse other possible ways of connecting, and make tenderness a political and ecological tool.
event description
For our launch event, we are organising a one-day festival dedicated to “Perspectives on the Latin American Diaspora”, focusing on the voices and experiences of migrants, in connection with botany and eco-fiction as ways of imagining alternative connections. The event includes a discussion panel with activists, artists, and scientists, activations and an art exhibition.
What will happen during the event?
During the event we will host some affective, experimental, and speculative activations to explore other possible ways of connecting with one another and with other forms of life. 🌾 ⛰️ 🐝 🦠
A group of artists will be sharing their works inviting us to let ourselves be inspired and affected by their speculative worlds.
At lunch, you will be invited to Comensales, a shared meal with the non-human.
Later we will bring together different perspectives though the panel conversation "Eco-frictions: Perspectives on the Latin American Diaspora" with participants coming from sciences, arts, and activism to explore together other possible worlds through the vegetal world lens.
For the closing we will have a live performance for a collective wrap up of our first edition.
schedule
11:00
Opening
11:00 – 18:30
Exhibition: Art & activism projects exhibition (Lena Becerra, Val Solari, Bárbara Bielitz, + tbc)
11:00 – 13:00
Activities: “Corners” of botanical tenderness. Spaces of interspecies care, where we will explore, imagine and rehearse other possible worlds through hands-on activities with the vegetal realm.
13:00 – 14:30
Lunch/activation. Comensales. A collective meal with the more than human. Bárbara Bielitz.
15:00 – 16:30
Panel: "Eco-frictions: Perspectives on the Latin American Diaspora". A panel conversation with members of the Latin American diaspora working in science, arts, and eco-social activism. Participants: Andrea Acosta, Julia Mensch, Galo Rivera. Moderation: Virginia Viñoles Cosentino.
17:00 – 17:30
Guided tour through exhibitions and Q&A
17:30 – 18:30
Collective performance & closing
organizers
Festival Botánicas de la Ternura is a project led by Virginia Viñoles-Cosentino (researcher and activist) and Bárbara A. Bielitz (artist and educator).
This project is part of the ABC Incuba project incubator (organized by Sorora e.V. and supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion).
Hosted by School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe, an artist-led non-profit which teaches experimental programs spanning art, technology, design, political inquiry, human connection and new media, with themes responding to the current state of the world since 2014.
to find us
School of Machines is located at ACUD KUNST HAUS, Veteranenstr. 21, 10119 Berlin. To attend any of our events, go thru the big red doors on the right side past the mailboxes. Take a left once you exit towards the hinterhof. Then turn left and you will see the elevator there on your left. Take it to the 5th floor. :)