is a video installation based on a series of texts about my research on invasive species. in the video installation, i tell stories about my fascination about my favorite invasive species, the Japanese knotweed. During my search for stories, I met interesting people: Jo from Knotweed Control in Swansea lead me around the capital of Japanese knotweed Swansea; I worked with Sasha, the head of eradication business in Chur; I got lost with Gusti, a forest ranger in Iceland; I encountered homeless people living in a knotweedbush in Brussels; had long conversations with Denis from the Botanical Garden in Meise. These encounters constantly changed my vision of this tenacious exote – moreover, my vision of invasive species in general. What can be labeled as nature and what not? The fierce reactions that the Japanese knotweed unleashes, raise at the same time questions about categorization, mobility, migration, colonialism, horror and the secret power of plants.
Format: installation
Support: Flemish Authorities
Production: wpZimmer
