Exhibition, Plants Eat Animals, PS Center

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Kim Soonhyeon, Kim Yunyoung, La Kim Jan Tomza, Jang Heakyoung
March 20 — April 12, 2025

Plants have their roots in the ground, while animals are life forms that reach towards the sky. Plants generate their own nutrients through photosynthesis from a fixed location, while animals must obtain energy from other organisms through movement to sustain life. This structural difference clearly illustrates the roles each type of life plays in the ecosystem.

As the cornerstone of the ecosystem, plants form the most basic food chain for living organisms and significantly outnumber animals in terms of population and reproductive rates. When the number and mass of plants decrease, animal reproduction and growth also decline, underscoring the crucial role plants play in maintaining ecological balance. The oxygen produced by plants is essential for all breathing organisms, which further renders plants fundamental entities.

The phrase "plants eat animals" is more metaphorical than literal. It does not indicate that plants directly consume animals but rather describes the process by which dead animals decompose into soil, returning to nourish plants, while also evoking extreme imaginations. For instance, a severe decline in plant populations can alter the nature of the air we need to breathe, threatening survival. The ecological structures formed by plants are indispensable for the development of human civilization, which makes recognizing and perceiving the existence of plants an obvious necessity.

Human civilization has been shaped through the advancement of technology, culture, and social structures, and throughout this process, plants have always been essential. They are fundamental resources that support human life in various fields, including food, medicine, and raw materials. In this context, plants extend beyond mere ecological existence to hold a status as life forms that have significantly contributed to the advancement of human civilization. The ways in which humans live and the development of civilization are closely linked to plants, which is why we need to re-evaluate their value.

Philosopher Luce Irigaray emphasizes that our coexistence with plants is a condition for survival through her concept of "vegetal existence." She argues that plants are deeply connected to nature and life, and through them, humans must recover the relationality and interactions they have lost. Irigaray’s philosophy highlights that the relationship with plants extends beyond simple ecological interactions, significantly influencing human identity and modes of existence.

⟪Plants Eat Animals⟫ shares the stories of five artists who express ‘vegetal thought’ from a post-human perspective in the context of humanity and civilization. Kim Soon-hyun explores natural ecology and human inner emotions, capturing these sentiments through drawing and video media. Kim Yoon-young metaphorically extends the human skin interior to a cosmic landscape, imaginatively revealing that humans are a subset rather than the intersection of nature. Raqim Jan Tomza proposes a literary scenario that tracks the traces of water in the city, a testament to civilization, connecting this with the sensation of “thirst” to suggest a post-human vegetal thought. Finally, Jang Hye-kyung incorporates decorative elements from Art Nouveau inspired by plants to express how they defend and host themselves. Through the existence of plants, we hope to reflect once again on the interaction between human life and the environment, and to recollect the essence of communication and survival that we have forgotten in the context of civilization and humanity.

Material: Resin, Plants
Dimension(mm): Various types