Symposium
Phytoglossias.
The Academy of Fine Arts
and Design in Katowice
Raciborska 50
- Form
Plants are the unexpected heroes of post-industrial transforma-
tions. Often unnoticed in our environment, these quiet allies
in combating climate change take over spaces we leave behind,
form relationships with industrial infrastructure and other
effects of human activity, adapting to conditions created by
humans. Could we invite them to human forms of expression?
What connections might then emerge? Could art and literature
have a real impact on their protection? What means of expres-
sion could capture the similarities and differences in our modes
of existence?
We invite you to a symposium dedicated to phyto-
glossia – plant modes of influence on human forms of
expression. Together, we would like to consider the
potential of artistic and literary practices in explo-
ring the relationships between plants and humans
and in sharing knowledge necessary for designing
possible ways of symbiotic coexistence.
These issues appeal to us especially in the context of post-in-
dustrial areas. Katowice, where the symposium takes place, is
one of the most important cities in the region, owing its eco-
nomic development and cultural identity to a long history of
coal mining and steel production, and it is currently facing
challenges related to energy transformation. In the Upper
Silesia region, there are many wastelands (slag heaps, sinkho-
les, remnants of industrial infrastructure) that, due to unique
conditions such as soil temperature and mineral composition,
become unique habitats for flora, including rare plant speci-
mens. This context prompts reflection on the complexity of re-
lationships in areas subjected to strong anthropopressure.
Topics addressed during the symposium may include, among
others:
• Art-based research methods focused on exploring,
diagnosing, and designing inter-species relationships
(with a particular focus on post-industrial areas)
• Research and artistic projects dedicated to relation-
ships between inhabitants of post-industrial areas and
local nature
• Artistic, literary, theoretical conceptualisations of
relationships in highly anthropogenic environments
• Artistic practices and the ethics of working with
living plants
• Ecosystem dependencies between nature and industry
(e.g., the phenomenon of metallophytes, rare
specimens found in post-industrial areas, the spread
of „invasive species”)
The symposium will be accompanied by an exhibition where
we will present the results of our artistic-literary research un-
dertaken as part of the project „Post-Industrial Plant-Human
Dictionary”
Scheldue
THURSDAY, 16.01
Symposium Opening
Grzegorz Hańderek (Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice)
Joanna Soćko (University of Silesia)
Paweł Szeibel (Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice)
Joanna Zdzienicka-Obałek (Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice)
Michael Marder (University of the Basque Country, Institute for Global Reconstitution (IGRec), Berlin)
For the Plants of a Toxic Dump: A Love Letter
Coffee Break
Monika Bakke (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań)
Plant-Mineral Affinities: The Long Ecology of Communities Larger Than Life
Franklin Ginn (University of Bristol)
Vegetal Futures
Lunch Break
Mateusz Chaberski (Jagiellonian University)
Spoiling the Anthropocene Scales. What Relations Come to Matter in Post-Extractivist Landscapes
Adam Kowalski (TURuda Association)
Carbon Atlantis [PL]
Curatorial Tour of the Phytoglossia Exhibition
Rondo Sztuki, Rondo im. gen. Jerzego Ziętka 1
Joanna Soćko (University of Silesia)
Paweł Szeibel (Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice)
Joanna Zdzienicka-Obałek (Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice)
FRIDAY, 17.01
Arts-Based Research in Search of Post-Industrial Plant-Human Relations
Panel Discussion with Exhibition Participants [PL]
(Aleksandra Krysińska, Paweł Sobczak, Paulina Walczak-Hańderek, Marek Wodzisławski, Moderator: Mateusz Chaberski)
Coffee Break
Katarzyna Roj (BWA Wrocław)
Biography of the Wrocław Irrigation Fields: Phytoglossias [PL]
Magdalena Zamorska (University of Wrocław)
How to Ask About the Ethics of Phytoaroma from the Fields? [PL]
Lunch Break
Tymon Adamczewski (Kazimierz the Great University)
From Tenacity of Coastal Plants to Planting the Future: On Artistic Projects of Mark Fisher, Justin Barton, and Katie Paterson
Łukasz Kraj (Jagiellonian University/University of Turin)
Fangs and Roots: The Figure of Autochthony and Pine Monoculture in Aquilino Ribeiro’s Novel When the Wolves Howl
Coffee Break
Urszula Zajączkowska (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)
“Gifts of the Forest” – Actions of the Plant Kingdom in the Urban Ecosystem [PL]
Prelegents

Michael Marder
Michael Marder is IKERBASQUE Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Global Reconstitution (IGRec), Berlin. His writings span the fields of ecological theory, phenomenology, and political thought. He is the author of numerous scientific articles and monographs, including Plant-Thinking […]

Franklin Ginn
Franklin Ginn is Associate Professor of Cultural Geography at the University of Bristol. His research concerns the histories, cultures, and philosophies of encounters with nonhumans. He is author of Domestic Wild (Routledge, 2016) and The Work that Plants Do (Transcript, 2021). Franklin is Co-Editor of Environmental Humanities.

Monika Bakke
Monika Bakke is an associate professor in the Philosophy Department and director of theEnvironmental Humanities Center at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. Shewrites on contemporary art and aesthetics, particularly from posthumanist, transspecies, andgender perspectives. She is the author of Bio-transfigurations: Art and Aesthetics ofPosthumanism (2010, in Polish) and Open Body (2000, in Polish), […]

Urszula Zajączkowska
Urszula Zajączkowska graduated from the Faculty of Forestry at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) and the Academy of Film and Television, specializing in editing. She is a professor in the Independent Department of Forest Botany at SGGW. Her research focuses on aerodynamics, plant regeneration after injury, and their movement. In 2015, she co-created […]

Katarzyna Roj
Curator and author of numerous texts on material culture. From 2009 to 2023, she led the program at Dizajn Gallery, part of BWA Wrocław, focusing on popularizing issues related to speculative design, resilience, unfairly distributed consumption, and the use of design tools in processes of adaptation to climate change. Curator of projects such as Żyjnia […]

Mateusz Chaberski
Mateusz Chaberski is Assistant Professor in the Department of Performance Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and a fellow of the Foundation for Polish Science. His research interests include performativity studies, assemblage theory, affect studies, and Anthropocene studies. In 2015, he published the book (Syn)aesthetic Experience: Performative Aspects of Site-Specific Representations (Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka). […]

Tymon Adamczewski
Tymon Adamczewski is university professor in the Department of Anglophone Literatures of Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland, where he teaches literary and cultural studies. He has published widely in various international venues (including The Journal of Illustration, Image & Narrative, NJES, AVANT, JPMS, among others) and edited a monograph titled All Along Bob Dylan: America […]

Magdalena Zamorska
Magdalena Zamorska is a researcher and theorist. She focuses on environmental humanities and plant studies, working within the framework of critical posthumanities, with a particular affinity for the perspective of feminist new materialisms. She is currently conducting research projects on plant ethics in art and natural perfumery. A Doctor of Humanities, she is an assistant […]

Adam Kowalski
A cultural studies scholar, heritage interpreter, and cultural manager specializing in creating narratives and content related to cultural heritage and the role of local communities in heritage management processes. He is the author and curator of numerous social, artistic, educational, and outreach projects focused on both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, many of which have […]

Łukasz Kraj
Łukasz Kraj (Jagiellonian University/University of Turin) is a graduate of Polish Studies, Romance Studies, and Portuguese Studies and a doctoral candidate at the Jagiellonian University Doctoral School in the Humanities, specializing in Literary Studies. He is working on a dissertation focused on the concept of Earth in the poetry of European modernism. He is the […]
