Plant Alliances: companion species in teaching in the face of the Anthropocene

Abstract

What can alliances with trees bring about when it comes to teaching experiences in the face of the Anthropocene? This text analyzes the encounters between biological sciences and the arts as seen throughout the “Art, science and technology” course. Having been provoked by Haraway’s (2021) concept of “companion species” and established a connection with works by artists and with authors of education and philosophy, its interest in thinking about what happens between material relations and the systems of signs involved in those exercises which have resulted in two book-objects produced within the course: Floresta de luz and Floresta². The trees call upon people to think of teaching as a laboratory-atelier of perceiving-creating forests and to pay attention to the fabulations between biological sciences and the arts.