palabras y que el arbol crezca de acuerdo
palabras y que el arbol crezca de acuerdo
The Plant Contingent is an artist-philosopher collective spanning the United States and Ecuador. Founded in 2022 through shared philosophical interests, the collective brings together artists and scholars working at the intersection of ecology, performance, philosophy, and critical theory. Through both synchronous and asynchronous processes, we explore being and thinking—together and apart—engaging with the entanglements of plant life, place, and community.
Our work unfolds through collaborative research, performances, and participatory projects that blur the boundaries between art, philosophy, and environmental inquiry. Core members include Dr. María Patricia Tinajero, Dr. Ana Fernández Miranda Texidor, Dr. Sam Jones, and Dr. Kate Farrington, whose diverse backgrounds span environmental philosophy, artistic research, and performance studies.
Since our founding, The Plant Contingent has developed a series of projects that investigate human-plant relationships across different cultural and ecological contexts. Notable projects include:The Séance-sorium: Thinking and Being with Plants, an ongoing performance series that explores the intangible dimensions of being and becoming with plants. Each iteration is site-responsive, adapting to the specific histories and ecologies of its location. For example, Séancesorium (2023) at Wormfarm Institute, Wisconsin, activated the sacred space of a historic tabernacle to extend connections between plants and the spiritual histories of the land. The artwork Plant Card Readings is a performance-based work that integrates plant-inspired divination cards for speculative storytelling. This project was featured in the exhibition Radical Entanglements at Espacio Arte Actual, Quito, Ecuador (2023). Our latest project Planetarium/Plantarium explores the interplay between terrestrial mycorrhizal networks and celestial formations. Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s notion of “ecstatic trance”, this work reflects on interconnected structures—both earthly and cosmic—that inform ethical-aesthetic approaches to coexistence among humans and nonhumans.
The Plant Contingent seeks new ways of making ourselves open to other ontologies, in this case, plant thinking. Instead of looking to another realm, we allow plant-being to guide our hands. Our practice incorporates automatic processes, but instead of focusing inward toward our subconscious, we draw upon the energy of the plant and our spontaneous responses to becoming-with-plants.
We are entangled with the tradition of the spiritualist seance and the knowledge and wisdom of Andean and Amazonian yachags and vegetalistas from South America and their relationship with the vegetal world.