Anytime Dept. is proud to present Songs the Plants Taught Us, an exhibition with expanded programming from Mark Harris.

Songs the Plants Taught Us celebrates the intertwined futures of plants and humans. The March 30 opening marks the start of a month-long program of artwork, conversations, plant therapy sessions, flower plantings, film screenings, poetry readings, and performances to stimulate civic dialogue around green improvements to the urban landscape. These gallery events work as a microcosm for understanding the green livability of Camp Washington, inviting partnerships with local business, civic, and arts leaders to unite behind an appreciation for, and celebration of, the value of plants and parks in the neighborhood.

The March 30 opening will include performances by Mark Harris of outsider vinyl records about plants, poetry by Elese Daniel and Katie Numi Usher, video by Heather Phillipson, and films The Garden (Derek Jarman) and Juliette of the Herbs (Juliette de Baïracli Levy), and masks by J.J. Grandville. Each Saturday in April Anytime Dept. will host conversations and talks on a range of plant, flower, and garden areas of interest. On these days new artwork will be installed in the gallery, other poetry readings and performances will take place, and Mark Harris will play other selections of strange plant records.

Included below is a list of participating artists and a schedule of events.

Artists

Britni Bicknaver, Carol Bove, Carmel Buckley, Mark Fairnington, Georg Frauenschuh, Audrey Galat, Ken Gonzales-Day, Mark Harris, Miyori Hayashi, Peter Huttinger, Birgit Jensen, David Mabb, Vicki Mansoor, Future Retrieval, Mark Patsfall, Heather Phillipson, Lydia Rosenberg, Jochen Saueracker, Rebecca Steele, Mary Tjotjos, Roxy Walsh, Gerlind Zeilner

Poems by

Sylvia Plath, Angus MacLise

Poetry readings by

Elese Daniel, Mark Flanigan, Matt Hart, Katie Numi Usher

Films

The Garden, Derek Jarman,1990

British experimental filmmaker’s feature film that uses his Dungeness garden as a set

Juliette of the Herbs,1998

Tish Streeton documentary on Juliette de Baïracli Levy, herbalist, veterinarian, and holistic medicine pioneer

Marijuana in the U.K., Mark Harris, 1999, 9 minutes

Originally made as a two-channel video, Marijuana in the U.K. juxtaposes texts by Walter Benjamin and Charles Baudelaire on the effects of hashish.

WOW, Heather Phillipson, 2018, 4.30 minutes

A drum & bass eulogy to the power, endurance, and wonder of grass.

Masks

J.J. Grandville, 19th-century French illustrator

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26780