CAN YOU HEAR HER SPEAK?
By Emilia Terracciano
Following his pioneering discoveries in wireless communication, physicist Jagadish Chandra Bose turned to the world of plants. Merging the disciplines of biology and physics, he advanced path-breaking studies in the field of biophysics, and invented the Crescograph instrument to study plant intelligence.
This talk focused on the Mimosa Pudica, the 'sensitive', 'touch-me-not' plant Bose repeatedly used in his studies. It included a discussion about artist Gaganendrath Tagore and the imaginative works he produced which depict Bose at work. We considered how these visionary images paint the limits of the plausible, the audible, and the artificial, placing Bose and his research into the world of plants at the threshold of the human. 150 years after Bose's birth, what can artists, scientists and plant neurobiologists learn from Bose and his research?
About the Speaker
Emilia Terracciano is a writer and a lecturer in the history of art. Her research interests lie in modern and contemporary art with a focus on the global south. Currently she is working on a monograph about art, nature and futurities in the global south.
Emilia studied Philosophy and History of Art at University College London (BA Hons) and completed her MA and PhD at The Courtauld Institute of Art. She was the recipient of the Nehru Trust Award (2008) and the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award scholarship at the Victoria and Albert Museum (2008-2012). At the V&A, under the supervision of Senior Curator Divia Patel, she compiled a detailed report about the items contained in the South Asia collection (ca.200), one of the largest in Europe.
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