Plants Intelligence Team

Dr. Yvonne Volkart is head of research at our institute and senior lecturer in our BA and MA, focusing on art theory and cultural media studies. Yvonne’s concerns lie in the modes how aesthetic theory-practice, ecology, technology, science, and decolonial feminism come together and bring us in relation to the world. At our institute, she directed the SNSF-research project Plants_Intelligence. Learning Like a Plant (2022 – 2025). She also holds a teaching position at the Master of Arts in Art Education at the ZHdK in Zurich. She is the author of the open-access-monograph Technologies of Care. From Sensing Technologies to an Aesthetics of Attention in a More-than-Human World (diaphanes 2023), and co-curator and author of the group exhibition and book project Unter Pflanzen at Museum Sinclair-Haus Bad in Homburg (2025). plants-intelligence.ch Apply for our MA program by 15 March 2026. Find our complete team and more information on dertank.ch (link in bio). 1 Contribution for Kinship in Transformation, Istituto Svizzero, 2024 📷 photo: Davide Palmieri 2 Intervention by Maurice Maggi for Plants_Intelligence. Learning Like a Plant 📷 Valentina Zingg 3 Lecture for Genders of the Forests, MA symposium, 2023 📷 Christian Knörr #studywithus @yvon.volk.art @the_chus_martinez @hgkbasel_institutkunst @hgkbasel_fhnw #plantsintelligence @plants_intelligence @museumsinclairhaus @zhdk.arteducation @istitutosvizzero

Last day of the show "Was wäre wenn..." at @kornhausforum Bern, curated by Nicolas Kerksieck and Katrin Weilenmann. The last presentation of our four-year SNF project @plants_intelligence ! Plants Intelligence Team includes @yvon.volk.art (lead), @rasasmite , @felipecastel , and @julia_mensch_ Photos by Susanne Goldschmid, Kornhaus Forum @hgkbasel_institutkunst

Last day of the show "was wäre wenn" with @plants_intelligence at @kornhausforum Bern. @hgkbasel_institutkunst

Last day of this show at @kornhausforum “Was wäre wenn” with @plants_intelligence in Bern. First stop of a swiss tour of my recent films. More to come! @hgkbasel_institutkunst

It’s a wrap!! My show “Counter Expeditions” at @hausformediaart closed a few days ago. As part of it I was able to premiere this installation, titled Tunda: The Quantic Plant and the Devil’s Breath” cinematic installation based on a film shot between Colombia’s Putumayo and the Swiss Alps, with Ayënan Quinchoa Juajibioy. Realized in the framework of the SNSF research project Plants_Intelligence, hosted by IAGN, HGK Basel. Tunda was co-commission by Haus für Medienkunst Oldenburg. Thanks to an amazing team and a sharp curatorial vision by @molinaribacsi 🫀🎥 @hgkbasel_fhnw @hgkbasel_institutkunst @plants_intelligence @_wildpalms_ @swissnationalsciencefoundation @lydiazimmermann @ayenan888 @sofias.earth @the_chus_martinez #CounterExpeditions #felipecastelblanco #plantsintelligence #Oldenburg #putumayo

#solarceptors our new immersive artwork at "what if.." exhibition @kornhausforum Bern, on view till 1.02.2025, with @raitissmits , a part of @plants_intelligence snsf 2022-2025, @hgkbasel_institutkunst

We're thrilled to show the artistic outputs of our SNF-funded project. This show includes films, drawings, photographs, smell, and installations by the artistic-research team @yvon.volk.art @julia_mensch_ @felipecastel and @rasasmite , as part of the show "Was wäre wenn? Vom Spekulieren und Handeln für die Zukunft" at @kornhausforum in Bern. The show runs from November 28 until February 01. @hgkbasel_fhnw @swissnationalsciencefoundation #plants_intelligence #artisticresearch

🌿 Throwback to “Ingesting–Digesting: Intelligence Within”� at the Plant Intelligence Symposium on October 31st. The Transversal Design community also left its mark on the symposium, bringing perspectives rooted in practice, dialogue, and sensorial experience. ✨ Felipe Castelblanco @felipecastel , our Community Tea mentor, who shared insights into his artistic practice in conversation with Jeremy Narby, exploring the idea of Plant Teachers. 🍃 Camila Chebez @studio.amancay , recent graduate, who introduced us to a vital plant companion now increasingly present in Swiss stores — Yerba Mate — and who also took over the Kiosk at @hgkbasel_civic with her work. 🌱 Koma Collective ( @komaculturestudio ) , founded by alumna Erika Calderon @selvalatina along with Gabriela Aquije @gabriela_a_z , who offered a beautifully curated, sensorial dinner as a special contribution to the event. 📸 Photos by Camila Chebez @studio.amancay & Julia Mensch @julia_mensch_ #PlantIntelligence #Symposium #Throwback #YerbaMate #CommunityTea #ArtAndEcology #KomaCollective #CivicKiosk #PlantTeachers #IngestingDigesting

Thank you all for delivering and joining our symposium Plant Intelligence! It was dense, amazing, pleasurable! I am truly grateful!

Lecture Performance by @julia_mensch_ as part of the plants_intelligence symposium @hgkbasel_fhnw

Link in Bio!!! Our SNF research project Plants_Intelligence. Learning Like a Plant (2022-25) is hosting an international symposium, bringing together the artistic team (@yvon.volk.art , @felipecastel , @julia_mensch_ , and @rasasmite ) and leading theorists, scientists, artists, curators and activists to discuss its findings with the audience. 🌍🌿 Theoretical, artistic, and experimental formats open up the discourse on plant intelligence and show how plants can be approached aesthetically and politically as intentional and cognizing beings. Institute Art Gender Nature IAGN Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW /// 🌱/// @swissnationalsciencefoundation @hgkbasel_fhnw @hgkbasel_institutkunst @museumsinclairhaus @komaculturestudio @studio.amancay #jeremynarby #katjatielbörger #plant_intelligence #chagra

🌱 «PLANTS INTELLIGENCE»: SYMPOSIUM MIT AUSSTELLUNG DES FORSCHUNGSPROJEKTS DER HGK BASEL AM RIXC ART SCIENCE FESTIVAL 2025 IN RIGA 🌱 Die 25. Ausgabe des RIXC Art Science Festival, die vom 16. bis 18. Oktober 2025 in Riga (Lettland) stattfindet, steht unter dem Titel «Plants Intelligence» und ist dem gleichnamigen, an der HGK Basel angesiedelten und vom Schweizerischen Nationalfonds (SNF) finanzierten Forschungsprojekt zu pflanzlicher Intelligenz gewidmet. Das Festival bietet ein vielfältiges Programm mit einem Symposium und einer Ausstellung, die bis am 23. November 2025 im Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst «Kim?» in Riga zu sehen sein wird. Die Keynotes des Symposiums werden gehalten von der argentinische Forscherin Noelia Billi, der lettischen Kunsttheoretikerin Jana Kukaine und der Schweizer Kunsttheoretikerin Yvonne Volkart, Leiterin des Forschungsprojekts «Plants_Intelligence. Learning Like a Plant» und Co-Kuratorin der im Rahmen des RIXC Art Science Festival präsentierten Ausstellung. Die Ausstellung «Plants Intelligence» zeigt vom 16. Oktober bis 23. November 2023 Arbeiten von direkt am Forschungsprojekt beteiligten Künstler:innen – Felipe Castelblanco, Julia Mensch und Rasa Smite (mit Raitis Smits) – gemeinsam mit dem indigenen Künstler Ayenan Quinchoa Juajibioy. Sie präsentieren Ergebnisse der vierjährigen Zusammenarbeit mit zahlreichen Partner:innen und etablieren einen Süd–Nord- sowie Ost–West-Austausch des vegetalen gegenseitigen Lernens. ℹ️ Weitere Informationen ➡️ festival2025.rixc.org #hgkbaselfhnw @fhnw.ch #hgknextgeneration #basel #dreispitz #studywithus #arteducation #designeducation #welcoming #joyful #transformativ @hgkbasel_institutkunst #finearts #visualart #artproject @the_chus_martinez @plants_intelligence @rixcriga @swissnationalsciencefoundation @yvon.volk.art @felipecastel @julia_mensch_ @rasasmite @raitissmits @ayenan888