Between gaps and traps

Intersections of contemporary art with animism and the plant turn

Abstract

Although postcolonial debates have largely contributed to a greater awareness of the various layers of violence imposed by different systems and models, objectifying patterns still persist. At a time when changes in the earth's macro-environment, resulting from human action, demand alternative ways of thinking, their presence obstructs necessary paradigm shifts. At the heart of this impasse are the so-called colonial Others, human and extra-human. The article draws parallels and intersections of the plant turn movement with animism, at the historical and cultural level. With a focus on the relations between humans and plants, it historically contextualizes animism and its - still problematic - approach today, reflecting on the reception and positioning of knowledge that is on the other side of the wall of exclusionary dichotomies. In this context, it poses the following question: would it be possible to avoid that movements - referring to the plant turn, animism and their intertwining -, which today largely cross contemporary art, dissipate as another new fashion or become a kind of neocolonialism? For this reflection, the study addresses the relationship of hegemonic Western art with the knowledge of the Other(s), and focuses on some examples of different forms of practice by contemporary animist artists, whose work - between gaps and traps, representation and representativity - expands the social space between humans and extra-humans in the different spheres of contemporary arts. Palavras-chave: Plant; Animism; Anthropocene.