Image: Annabel Howland, Arbuscule-No14, pen-and-ink drawing, 2023.
Soil, and the fungi that inhabit it, have become key topics in Environmental Humanities’ engagements with concepts like symbiosis or multispecies entanglements. Why is that so? The Environmental Humanities Center Amsterdam is looking forward to welcoming artist Annabel Howland and systems ecologist Vasilis Kokkoris to each give a talk, followed by a discussion, on the question of how scientists and artists seek ways to make sense of the fungal networks beneath our feet.
Systems ecologist Vasilis Kokkoris will introduce us to the world of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), a group of ancient fungi that form a mutualistic symbiosis with most land plants influencing plant productivity, survival, and composition – in extensive interconnected networks below our feet.
Artist Annabel Howland (UK-NL) will talk about role the symbiosis between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi has played in her work since 2012 and why arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi continue to fascinate. She will present selected projects of hers, including some of her latest video works.
When: Thursday, November 13, 16:00-18:00
Where: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Main Building (De Boelelaan 1105), Room 10A00
The event is free of charge and open to the public.
Please register here:
Your message has been sent
Dr. Vasilis Kokkoris (GR-NL) is an Assistant Professor at the Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment (A-LIFE), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, in the Section of Systems Ecology. His research focuses on soil fungi that form close partnerships with plants. Beyond the fundamental biology, Dr. Kokkoris is interested in applying this knowledge to promote more sustainable agriculture and to understand how plant–fungus partnerships may respond to climate change. In addition to his research, Dr. Kokkoris is an award-winning microphotographer. Through his images, he makes these hidden fungi visible and helps bring attention to the unseen fungal world living beneath our feet.
Annabel Howland (UK-NL) is an Amsterdam-based artist whose work navigates artistic, anthropological, ecological and geographical themes and symbioses. Passing this research through a range of materials and artistic languages opens up new spaces for the audience, for imagination and for nuanced reflection. Annabel’s work often takes on the rhythm of longer-term projects, finding its form through drawing, film, photography and sound presented in installations, exhibitions and events in a variety of settings. Annabel is currently developing a multi-disciplinary project, Sitetime, with the Institute for Sustainable Worlds at Norwich University of the Arts. Sitetime straddles the North Sea and engages with land, water and coastal dynamics on cascading scales.
Image: Vasilis Kokkoris, Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, microscopic (confocal) photograph, 2021.
Leave a Reply