Jeff Schmuki and Wendy DesChene
2018 - 2019 Visiting Artists and Scholars
PlantBot 2.0: a collaborative exhibition by Wendy DesChene and Jeff Schmuki
Exhibition Dates: August 30, 2018- October 11, 2018
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 30,, 2018 from 5-7 pm with gallery talk at 6pm
Moth Survey: August 30, 2018 from 8 pm- midnight
The Survey will be conducted at Sustainable Carolina Farm and Gardens located behind Green Quad
PlantBot Building Workshop: October 11, 2018 from 5.30-7.30 pm
The Workshop will take place at the Makerspace at Rhodos Fellows Living Learning Community
PlantBot 2.0 is a collaborative effort of two artists and educators, Wendy DesChene and Jeff Schmuki, who satirically look at the possible evolution of plant species through modern agricultural practices and share current scientific knowledge on the environmental and social costs of bioengineered crops. Genetically modified plants are grafted onto robotic and remote-controlled bases to become an organism with no clear heritage and no clear future. Through these humorous street interventions with robot plant hybrids, the artists aim to begin conversations about food issues. Like B-movie Godzillas, "PlantBots" are a hybrid of imagination, possibility and reality, encouraging communities to see their environments in a new way and begging the question, what will it all become? See more at www.plantbotgenetics.com
PlantBot Genetics was awarded NEA and Pulitzer Foundation Grants for exhibitions and/or programming at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Goethe Institute in Egypt, the Bach Modern in Austria, the New Gallery of Canada, and the Marfa Dialogues occurring in St. Louis.
Originally hailing from Canada, Wendy DesChene earned an MFA from the Tyler School of Art. She teaches at Auburn University in Alabama.
Jeff Schmuki was raised in Arizona and earned his MFA from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He teaches at Georgia State University.
