Transformation Dinner & PLANT STORIES Opening / Eröffnung

(German below)

Transformation Dinner & PLANT STORIES Opening

A project by Bethan Hughes, with contributions by Anguezomo Nzé Mba Bikoro, Bethan Hughes, Ece Eldek, Fetewei Tarekegn, Galo E. Rivera, Tang Han, Leslie García, T. Rudzinskaitė Memorial Amateur Lichenologists Society (Sumugan Sivanesan and Tessa Zettel), Tlayolan, Umut Azad Akkel

As plants travel across geographies and epochs, interacting with the different practices of care, exploitation and ritual that humans create, they are transformed. From sustenance to symbol, medicine to ornament, weed to weapon, human understandings of and relationships with plants are in constant flux. Meanwhile, far beyond the human imagination, plants follow their own journeys of transformation and change that remain unknowable to us.

Celebrating the opening of the event series, PLANT STORIES starts with a communal gathering in the form of a dinner party: Taking place across the different spaces of Z/KU, this dinner features a series of interventions by artists, researchers, filmmakers, gardeners, and musicians, with each offering another reflection on plant transformation. Whether political agitators or symbols of resistance, musical companions or nourishing life-givers, we invite you to join us as we share plant stories, food and space, traveling on a collective journey of transformation.

Bethan Hughes' audio-visual installations, sculptures and texts interweave archival research and speculative narratives to explore the unnatural ecologies generated through industry, architecture, commerce and technology. Her work has been exhibited at venues including LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón, Kunstpavillion, Innsbruck, nGbK, Berlin, and Ars Electronica, Linz. 2025 she published her first monograph: Elastic Continuum (K. Verlag) traces the material and symbolic transformations of a rubber-containing plant known as the Kazakh dandelion.

Infos about PLANT STORIES program: https://www.zku-berlin.org/timeline/plant-stories/

>> We have reached capacity for the dinner reservations. Everyone is welcome to pass by, and you can join if there is space. Priority for the dinner and food is given to registered participants. In any case, you are welcome to join us a bit later for the DJ set by Microhm, at around 22:30.

**

German

Transformation Dinner & PLANT STORIES Opening

Project by Bethan Hughes, with contributions by Anguezomo Nzé Mboulou Mba Bikoro, Bethan Hughes, Ece Eldek, Fetewei Tarekegn, Galo E. Rivera, Tang Han, Leslie García, T. Rudzinskaitė Memorial Amateur Lichenologists Society (Sumugan Sivanesan and Tessa Zettel), Tlayolan, Umut Azad Akkel

On their journeys through geographies and eras, plants constantly undergo changes, interacting with the practices of care, exploitation and rituals that humans have created. From food to symbol, from medicine to ornament, from weed to weapon, human understanding of and relationships with plants are in constant flux. Beyond human imagination, however, plants also follow their own paths of transformation that remain unrecognizable to us.

To celebrate the opening of the event series, PLANT STORIES will begin with a communal gathering in the form of a dinner party: a variety of interventions by artists, researchers, filmmakers, gardeners and musicians spread across different rooms of the ZK/U will each show a different reflection on the transformation of plants. With plants as political agitators or symbols of resistance, musical companions or nourishing life-givers - we invite you to share food, space and stories with us and embark on a journey of plant transformation together.

Bethan Hughes' audiovisual installations, sculptures and texts combine archival research and speculative narrative to investigate the unnatural ecologies produced by industry, commerce and technology. Her work has been shown at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón, Kunstpavillion in Innsbruck, nGbK, Berlin, and at Ars Electronica in Linz, among others. In 2023 she was a fellow of the European Media Platform and in 2024 she held the Art & Ecology Residency at Museumsquartier Wien. Her first monograph will be published in 2025: Elastic Continuum (K. Verlag) explores the material and symbolic transformations of the Kazakh dandelion, which contains rubber.

Info on the PLANT STORIES series: https://www.zku-berlin.org/timeline/plant-stories/

>> The dinner is booked out. Please come along and join us if there is room. All those who have reserved in time have priority for dinner and food. You are also welcome to come a little later for the DJ set by Microhm from about 22:30.