[Summer 2025]

The Age of Plants
by Bénédicte Ramade

[EXCERPT]

With the exhibition Science/Fiction, une non-histoire des Plantes, the Maison européenne de la photographie in Paris bore witness to the turn toward plants that has been shaking up the cultural world for a decade, overturning general preconceptions regarding this realm of the living world. Inspired by botanical researchers’ scientific explorations, the artists in the exhibition recognized these resolutely “more-than-human” entities’ complex intelligence by calling upon photography and its technical history as well as generative artificial intelligence (GAI) animated images to reveal the plant imaginary.

[ Complete issue, in print and digital version, available here: Ciel variable 129 – FROM CONTINENT TO CONTINENT ]
[ Complete article in digital version available here: The Age of Plants]

Bénédicte Ramade an art historian, teacher, curator, and researcher. Specializing in environmental issues in historical and contemporary art practices, she has developed over the last decade expertise in approaches to plant life (degardening, invasive plants, botanical hospitalities, and ferality). Her most recent exhibition, dedicated to David Lafrance’s gardening and painting project Huit saisons, took place in Salle Alfred-Pellan at the Maison des arts de Laval in 2024-25.