Minor Landscapes and Artistic Research in the Exhibition Speculative Objects on Vegetation and Disturbance
Authors: Inês Moreira, Beatriz Duarte
in Vegetação Inquieta. Registos improváveis entre paisagem, arte, arquitectura e ruína
Editor: Miguel Costa
Published by: Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araújo
ISSN: 978-989-53723-6-2
2024
publishing researching; writing
This essay presents the exhibition Speculative Objects on Vegetation and Disturbance, held at Casa das Artes (Porto), which showcased for the first time Miguel Costa’s installations on minor landscapes. The study examines the artist’s working processes, highlighting his disciplinary and thematic affinities, as well as the curatorial approach that articulates the narratives of these speculative installations based on his research.
Miguel Costa’s work, situated within the field of artistic research, engages with methods from architecture and landscape studies, subverting them by foregrounding neglected species. The objects presented explore a detailed investigation of ruderal vegetation that proliferates in urban cracks, challenging human efforts of control and eradication. In contrast to grand landscapes and conventional botany, minor landscapes are characterized by resistance, spontaneity, and their undesired presence within planned environments, while also revealing urban ecological dynamics, colonial pasts, ornamental markets, and transnational policies of species management.
Beyond ruderal plants, the artist’s research also addresses narratives surrounding cultivated and “useful” vegetation, reflecting on colonial legacies and the exclusionary practices associated with these forms of plant life.
The exhibition is structured around two axes: the first traces the trajectory of ruderal plants within both the landscape and the artist’s research; the second proposes an archaeology of landscapes and the dynamics that precede the emergence of these plants in contemporary territories.
The exhibition invites reflection on the complex interactions between urban space, power dynamics, and colonial legacies, revealing hidden histories embedded in botanical management and vegetal resistance.
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