The Adventures of Landscapes

Inspired by Anna Tsing’s The Mushroom at the End of the World (2015) and Eduardo Kohn’s How Forests Think (2013), we will be focusing on how alliances between humans and non-human forms of life are formed. How does cross-species collaboration help in creating complex ecosystems and do forests think, and how do they think?  In describing the world that extends beyond the humans, we will be looking for a helping hand in Indigenous sense-making as a means to experience the world as a collaborative process and to explore multiple ways of knowing. How can we think and see in more-than-human ways? 

A conversation between researcher and anthropologist Patricia Viera and visual artist and author Ursula Biemann. Moderated by program creator Anna Kirikova. 

AS PART OF OTHER MINDS 

OTHER MINDS is a cross-disciplinary program centered around the ways of thinking and seeing in more-than-human ways. It has been created in response to the curatorial vision of Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2024, After Rain, which embodies revitalization and renewal. It situates itself within a wider narrative of the co-existence of humans and non-humans.

Neuroscience has proved that the human brain cannot grasp the world as it is. If the objective world exists, how can we even come close to discovering it? 

The scientific and culturological tools developed to date allow for an experience of the “other”, or alternative ways of perceiving the world. With OTHER MINDS, we have assembled an array of scientists, thinkers, and artists to elaborate on plant-animal-microorganism-human relations through the new findings in neurosciences, biology, and anthropology, as well as through the metaphorical findings of the artworks presented at the Biennale. 

We will look closer at how non-human beings interact with reality, communicate, and create fascinating entanglements through their relationship with others, including humans. By receiving theoretical and practical insights from the program’s contributors, we might probably be able to see the world around us a bit closer to what it is — a world where all life is thoughtful life. 

The program was created in collaboration with Anna Kirikova and Daria Ozerskaya.