Inside the World, Exteriors
2024
Inside the World, Exteriors, is a cinematic close study of flowers and plants, attempting to allow the lead characters—plants themselves—to be co-creators of the film. The Basque philosopher Michael Marder describes plants as "aesthetic agents" and raises the question of whether plants can sense and thus have a form of cognitive capacity. Plants shape the earth, influence the air, reach for the sun, and actively adapt to their surroundings. In this way, they not only survive but also unfold and express themselves. We know that plants communicate with each other and the world around them through various signaling substances, such as pheromones, colors, and chemicals. Is this communication, which presupposes a kind of sensing, also a kind of thinking? Considering the abundance and diversity in the plant world, can we say that plants perform gestures of a performative nature?
