Between Us and Nature – A Reading Club #51

“A leaf is a platter of pigment strung with vascular lace”

A leaf is a platter of pigment strung with vascular lace

Hope Jahren

Inspired by geobiochemist Hope Jahren, we gather to shine a light on the alchemy of photosynthesis and to find relationships and knowledge. She reminds us that “a leaf is a platter of pigment strung with vascular lace”. We invite you to join us as we explore this life-giving process, where nothing is truly new but constantly transformed.

The extinction of both known and unknown species is a terrible loss. Attuning our collective reading practice to the Goldrausch 2024 exhibition, I only work with lost and found, we turn to the worldmaking of plants. In an ongoing cycle of change the elements of sunlight, air, and water never get lost but are transformed into new forms of life.

Between Us and Nature is an ongoing reading club that chooses texts related to natural sciences, art, anthropology, postcolonialism and the (post)anthropocene from a eco-feminist perspective. Attendees read passages together out loud, and share experiences and thoughts about the nature they live in. Looking beyond disciplines, the group creates a space to learn from and with bacteria, algae, fungi, soil and multinaturalist narratives.

How: RSVP is mandatory: office@goldrausch.org

What:​ The Reading Club is in English language

When:​ Sunday 13th of October, 2024 at 16:30 (sharp)

Where​: Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin.

Hosts:​ Eva-Fiore Kovacovsky, artist, and Sina Ribak, researcher for ecologies and the arts

We start at 16.30 with a special tasting: Eva-Fiore Kovacovsky offers sorbet made from fresh beech leaves that she collected in a forest at the northern fringe of Berlin. Beech-Leaf Sorbet (2024) is part of Vernal Unfolding, the project presented in the exhibition, which features Kovacovsky’s work with beech leaves (Fagus sylvatica).

We continue with the collective reading with Eva-Fiore Kovacovsky (Goldrausch 2024) and Sina Ribak, researcher for ecologies and the arts.

In collaboration with Zabriskie Buchladen für Kultur und Natur and Goldrausch

Reference: Hope Jahren, Lab Girl – A story of trees, science and love, Fleet, UK, 2016.

Image: Vernal Unfolding, Eva-Fiore Kovacovsky, 2023