It is well known that plants cannot speak for themselves, but speaking through, with and in flowers has a long tradition. Flowers are given as gifts of love or sent as secret messages and thus used as objects and symbols of human communication. The floral journey through literary and cultural history with Isabel Kranz is about the messages that are conveyed with them and the stories that flowers tell.

About the lecture series on plant studies in cultural studies

The scientific study of plants is no longer the sole domain of botany. Literary and cultural studies now also utilise new botanical and philosophical findings to question established views of plants and, on this basis, to examine the role of plants in literary texts and other cultural media.

In this way, the humanities are making a significant contribution to redescribing the relationship between humans and other living beings and showing, by way of example, how artistic forms of expression can help us to think differently about the future in times of global climate change and the destruction of biodiversity.

The interdisciplinary, German-language event series Critical Plant Studies has been taking place since the summer semester 2023 as a cooperation between the Association of Friends and Sponsors of the Botanical Garden Wuppertal e.V. and the University of Wuppertal.

Date: "From the flower to the style flower", Thursday, 18 June, 6 p.m., location: Glashaus, Elisenhöhe 1, 42107 Wuppertal