Becoming Media

Plants communicate with their fellow species, but also with other species. The communication of humans with plants, in turn, represents an old phantasm that is intended to lead to contact with the seemingly mute creatures. This article revisits the history of plant cognition from a media theory pers...

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Main Author: Birgit Schneider
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The White Horse Press 2024-10-01
Series:Plant Perspectives
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.whp-journals.co.uk/PP/article/view/1080
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author Birgit Schneider
author_facet Birgit Schneider
author_sort Birgit Schneider
collection DOAJ
description Plants communicate with their fellow species, but also with other species. The communication of humans with plants, in turn, represents an old phantasm that is intended to lead to contact with the seemingly mute creatures. This article revisits the history of plant cognition from a media theory perspective. The article questions the extent to which media and electricity have historically been and are currently leitmotifs for entering into resonance with plants. The focus is on media-historical and science-historical approaches that have conferred to plants the ability to communicate and on current sensor interfaces through which plants are turned into sound in media art. The article argues that, whenever media technology makes plants ‘speak’, what the human listener actually hears is the medium, not the plant, because it is a human construct.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2753-3603
language English
publishDate 2024-10-01
publisher The White Horse Press
record_format Article
series Plant Perspectives
spelling doaj-art-cc6f460cc5a44d3c98cf28c3fe56e6e82024-12-18T17:15:09ZengThe White Horse PressPlant Perspectives2753-36032024-10-011229331210.3197/whppp.638454949097351021Becoming MediaBirgit Schneider0University of PotsdamPlants communicate with their fellow species, but also with other species. The communication of humans with plants, in turn, represents an old phantasm that is intended to lead to contact with the seemingly mute creatures. This article revisits the history of plant cognition from a media theory perspective. The article questions the extent to which media and electricity have historically been and are currently leitmotifs for entering into resonance with plants. The focus is on media-historical and science-historical approaches that have conferred to plants the ability to communicate and on current sensor interfaces through which plants are turned into sound in media art. The article argues that, whenever media technology makes plants ‘speak’, what the human listener actually hears is the medium, not the plant, because it is a human construct.https://www.whp-journals.co.uk/PP/article/view/1080media theoryinformation theoryplant cognitionsonificationcommunicationmedia artlistening
spellingShingle Birgit Schneider
Becoming Media
Plant Perspectives
media theory
information theory
plant cognition
sonification
communication
media art
listening
title Becoming Media
title_full Becoming Media
title_fullStr Becoming Media
title_full_unstemmed Becoming Media
title_short Becoming Media
title_sort becoming media
topic media theory
information theory
plant cognition
sonification
communication
media art
listening
url https://www.whp-journals.co.uk/PP/article/view/1080
work_keys_str_mv AT birgitschneider becomingmedia