PARASOPHIA 京都国際現代芸術祭2015

Parasophia invites naturalist Mikinori Ogisu to give a gallery talk from the perspective of systematic botany on Ana Torfs’s Family Plot (2009–10), an installation currently on view at Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art as part of Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015.

“…Torfs presents Family Plot, an installation that proposes a selective gallery of forefathers in 50 framed prints. The central figure is the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, who introduced a formal system for the naming of plants that is still in use now. In the era of colonization, this nomenclature often entailed the dedication of exotic plants to their—usually European—discoverers. With her fascination with the names of plants as a starting point, Torfs explores the ‘worlds’ of the 25 selected name patrons from the era of European exploration and imperialism, and lays bare a cultural history progressing along an axis that cannot be comprehended from a single historical perspective. The viewer, standing before the thoroughly researched and beautifully arranged work, experiences a pictorial atlas that proposes a very personal view of the dark hours of world history.” (full text)



Mikinori Ogisu (荻巣樹徳)
Born 1951 in Aichi Prefecture. Naturalist. Ogisu became interested in traditional Japanese gardening plants as a teenager and studied traditional horticultural techniques under many experts. Studied at the Kalmthout Arboretum in Belgium, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and RHS Garden Wisley in the UK, and more in 1972–75. Began research on plants in Southwest China in 1980, and studied at Sichuan University as the first foreign student in 1982–84. He has won several awards both in Japan and abroad. As of 2008, Ogisu had traveled more than 300,000 kilometers for his research, and has discovered more than 50 new plant species in the process, as well as plants that are now considered legendary. He is also actively involved in the preservation of traditional Japanese gardening plants, and is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in horticulture in Japan. A dialogue between Ogisu and Noboru Tsubaki is included in Tsubaki’s book Sherutā kara kokkupitto e: Tobitatsu sukima no sekkeigaku (シェルターからコックピットへ 飛び立つスキマの設計学), scheduled to be published on April 30, 2015 by Sangakusha (Tokyo).