Arboreal Intensive

What does it mean to be a co-custodian of Earth? Presented alongside KNMA’s ongoing exhibition Inheritors of Earth, Arboreal Intensive invites participants to examine the social, political, scientific, and cultural ideas that shape our understanding of plants and the arboreal world.

Bringing together 10 reading sessions led by independent curator and researcher Oorja Garg and a five-part lecture series by Premjish Achari, Curator at KNMA, the programme explores human engagement with plants through feminist, socialist, scientific, mythological, and historical perspectives. Through scholarly and creative works, discussions, and lectures, it examines the history of botany, the representation of plant life, contemporary artistic practices, and possibilities for future cohabitation, while questioning human-centred approaches to botanical knowledge.

The reading sessions explore four key themes:
Empire and Colonialism: Ethnography, botanical drawings, and scientific extraction.
Gardening: The roles of gardening in aesthetics, medicine, and education, alongside its relationship with social exclusion and privilege.
Mythology of Plants: The beliefs and imaginations that shape human relationships with plants, from reverence to fear of their perceived magical powers.
The Language of Plants: Possible and speculative ways of interacting with the arboreal world.

Complementing these discussions, the five-part lecture series traces the history of botany and scientific understandings of plant life, engages with contemporary creative practices, and considers possibilities for future cohabitation. It pays particular attention to phytovisualization and its potential to foster more empathetic and collaborative ways of recognising plant presence. Together, the reading sessions and lectures offer different ways of thinking about our relationships with plants and the possibilities of living alongside them.

In collaboration with IMPULSE Magazine.

Programme Schedule:

Lectures | 4.00pm – 6.00pm | 28 Nov, 12 Dec, 19 Dec, 9 Jan, 16 Jan

Reading sessions | 6.00pm – 8.00pm | 14 Nov, 21 Nov, 28 Nov, 05 Dec, 12 Dec, 19 Dec, 09 Jan, 16 Jan, 23 Jan, 30 Jan

About the Facilitators

Oorja Garg is an independent curator and researcher based in New Delhi, working across contemporary art, popular culture, technology, science, and politics. She holds an MA in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts, New York, and studied Art History at MS University of Baroda. Her research-led practice engages with artists, interdisciplinary inquiry, and the spatial possibilities of exhibitions. Her recent projects include Radial Minds, On Absence, 203/H: The Collector, and Time is a Body. She has worked with contemporary art galleries, not-for-profit institutions, art fairs, educational spaces, and artist collectives in India and internationally.

Premjish Achari is a Delhi-based curator and writer, currently Curator at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and curator of Inheritors of Earth. His exhibitions include Imperial Silhouettes, Luminous Reveries, and All Canaries Bear Watching. He has also served as Editorial Supervisor and Programme Head for the Kochi Biennale’s Lokame Tharavadu. A recipient of the Pro Helvetia Art Writers’ Award and the Prameya Art Scribes Award, his writing has appeared in various journals and publications, and he has presented research at SOAS, University of London, and the Tricontinental Conference. He conceptualised Kaee Kolkata City Lab and Odisha Craft Odyssey and taught at Shiv Nadar University for seven years.

About IMPULSE Magazine

IMPULSE Magazine is an arts and culture publication based in New York City. It publishes experimental, in-depth reviews and interviews that seek to expand the boundaries of contemporary art criticism and theory.

While you’re here, explore KNMA’s ongoing exhibitions Inheritors of Earth and In-Rhythm.