The mini-course “Plant Archives: Insurgent Histories, Contemporary Art, and Colonial Memory” brings together researchers, artists, and professionals from different fields to discuss the relationships between contemporary art, colonial memory, the history of science, and the plant world. Held at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden and the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences (MAST), the mini-course will center on lectures and conversations with artists Denilson Baniwa, Rosana Paulino, and José Diniz, whose works critically explore themes such as colonialism, ancestry, archives, memory, and the relationships between humans and plants, with a special focus on the cultural and environmental histories of the Amazon. Drawing on their artistic careers and bodies of work, the mini-course seeks to foster a dialogue among different forms of knowledge—scientific, artistic, Indigenous, and Afro-diasporic—reflecting on the ways in which scientific institutions, collections, and archives can be reinterpreted in light of contemporary perspectives that value the diversity of memories, narratives, and historical experiences.
PROGRAM
June 24 – Botanical Garden
9:00 a.m. Opening and introduction to the mini-course
9:30 a.m. Conversation with students and tour of the Botanical Garden
2:30 p.m. Lecture and conversation with José Diniz
June 25 – (MAST)
9:30 a.m. Lecture and conversation with Rosana Paulino
11:00 a.m. Lecture and conversation with Denilson Baniwa
4:00 p.m. Closing conversation