In the artificial climates of greenhouses, plants are to be brought under control in accordance with human expectations. In the literature of around 1900, however, orangeries, conservatories and greenhouses are primarily portrayed as places where plants – and particularly their scents – reshape the social order: Plants are no longer merely objects; they become forces that influence human behaviour and relationships. In his lecture at the Wuppertal Botanical Garden, Sergej Rickenbacher explores how literature depicts these processes and where they lead.

On the lecture series ‘Cultural Studies of Plants’

The academic study of plants has long since ceased to be the sole preserve of botany. Literary and cultural studies now also draw on new botanical and philosophical insights to challenge established views of plants and, on this basis, to examine the role of plants in literary texts and other cultural media.

In doing so, the humanities are making a significant contribution to redefining the relationship between humans and other living beings and, through concrete examples, demonstrating how artistic forms of expression can help us to reimagine the future in times of global climate change and the destruction of biodiversity.

The interdisciplinary, German-language lecture series ‘Critical Plant Studies’ has been running since the summer term of 2023 as a collaboration between the Association of Friends and Supporters of the Wuppertal Botanical Garden (Verein der Freunde und Förderer des Botanischen Gartens Wuppertal e.V.) and the University of Wuppertal.

Date: ‘And the armour of their spirit loosened and dissolved and fell’: Vegetable Interventions in the Greenhouses of the Turn of the Century, Thursday 29 October, 6.00 pm, Venue: Orangerie, Elisenhöhe 1, 42107 Wuppertal.