A new exhibition that explores the relationship between plants and people in new and startling ways has been installed in The Core. We spoke to Co-curator Hannah Hooks about the inspiration and challenges of putting together the show.
Super Natural looks at humankind’s ever-evolving understanding of ourselves as a part of the natural world and the systems that inform our varying perspectives. Whether through senses and signals or cycles of carbon, oxygen and water, invisible threads connect a complex, dynamic web of life – and we are all a part of this web. Today however, some cultures have
become separated from nature, both in language and in action and appear to consider humans as supra natural – beyond nature – when in fact humans, like all life on Earth, are just really, really (as in, super) natural. Super Natural includes sculpture,
works on paper, audio, video and installation.
Where did the concept come from? Super Natural stems from Eden’s mission to connect people with the living world. It aims to inspire people to think about what a shared understanding of nature might be, and to celebrate the power of our individual imaginations to reunite us with the natural world. Without plants there would be no people. Plants and other photosynthetic species like algae created Earth’s unique atmosphere and regulate today’s climate. Plants are crucial for biodiversity, not to mention
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our dependence on them for food, fuel, medicine, clothing and materials.
How does the theme of Super Natural and reconnecting with nature play out in these works? Ai Weiwei’s monumental cast iron sculpture Fly (2019), part of his Roots series, is both arresting and sublime – a tangible depiction of ‘uprootedness’. It highlights the plight of indigenous populations that rely on the trees and forests of Brazil for their habitats and sustenance as well as inviting visitors to consider – in a very direct way – their connectedness to the natural world. The research for Matrix Vegetal
by Chilean artist Patricia Domínguez involved her spending time as an apprentice with Amador Aniceto, a curandero (traditional healer) living and practicing in Madre de Dios, Peru. Under his guidance, the artist was able to learn how to activate an intimate process of connecting with the vegetal world – both in terms of knowledge and language. While Swedish artist Ingela Ihrman’s A Great Seaweed Day (2019) investigates the tangible and metaphysical links between the ideas of intestinal and marine flora.
How did you curate such a diverse show? There was a wonderful exhibition called Rooted Beings at the Wellcome Collection. Misha Curson, Eden’s Senior Curator, and I travelled up to London to see it and loved the works they had included by Eduardo Navarro, Patricia Domínguez and Ingela Ihrman in particular. These artists provided the start point for the exhibition which we built upon. We had been speaking to Ai Weiwei’s gallery Lisson about exhibiting one of his monumental Roots sculptures at Eden and this exhibition provided the perfect opportunity. Working with Eden’s research team we developed the
narrative further – we wanted to focus on themes of reciprocity, imagination, tacit knowledge, ideas of ‘more than human’, as well as ethnobotany and what these things mean to different people. This led to the inclusion of works by Kedisha Coakley and Iman Datoo.
Were there any challenges when it came to installing the exhibition? Ai Weiwei’s Fly weighs about 1.5 tonnes and was logistically challenging to bring into the building and install. The design of the exhibition uses only cardboard for the signage, the cladding of the plinths and the furniture. This was a deliberate decision to create a uniform and sustainable aesthetic, but it also provided a challenge when it came to installation.
Were there any works that you wanted to feature that you couldn’t get? We would have loved to include a giant passion flower sculpture and performance by Ingela Ihrman, but Ingela is based in Sweden and the sculpture itself is incredibly fragile. Considering materials, methods and processes is central to the way we curate art exhibitions at Eden, informing decisions taken as to the viability of including certain works. There are also some wonderful videos that we wanted to include – one in particular by Ben Rivers – but we are looking to collaborate with another gallery in Cornwall to include these works in other locations.
Super Natural was curated by Hannah Hooks and Misha Curson, with support from the Eden Project research team.
Clockwise from top: Eduardo Naverro, Photosynthetics, (2021); Ingela Ihrman, Gut Weed and Sea Belt, both part of A Great Seaweed Day (2019).
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