A Plant is a Community - Root Listening

WHY LISTEN TO PLANTS? A plant knows and makes worlds. It communicates.

https://liquidarchitecture.org.au/events/a-plant-is-a-community

When we regard a plant, we usu­ally only see what’s above the sur­face: stems, trunks, branches, leaves, buds and flow­ers. But there’s so much more below ground – intri­cate nets of roots, radi­cles and fungal bodies through which water, nutri­ents, knowl­edge and com­mu­nity flows. Plants are always con­nected, always talk­ing and lis­ten­ing to each other, even in the most con­structed of land­scapes. A plant knows and makes worlds; it is always in com­mu­ni­ca­tion with others. Through root-lis­ten­ing, through prac­tices of shar­ing words, time — and seeds — can we cul­ti­vate a veg­etable-based con­scious­ness?

This augmented reality sound walk uses Leah Barclay’s recordings from beneath the surface of the soil to explore the acoustic ecology of plants in response to Monica Gagliano’s new book ‘Thus Spoke the Plant’ (North Atlantic Books; released Novem­ber 13, 2018).