Céline Baumann - Parliament of plants
Between buildings: Landscape, Public space, Environment
The plant kingdom is in fact a republic and the parliament of plants grants nature its own representative body. By giving a voice of the botanical world, the parliament of plants tackles issues of races, gender, normativity and inclusivity through an intersectional lens. It opens a post-anthropocene space for reflection, challenging the belief that matter and intelligence should be dissociated and regarding flora as more than a mere commodity. It explores the power of trees, shrubs, flowers, and herbs as a source of inspiration, providing alternatives to the way we design and act, whether on the scale of a territory, a public space or a private garden.
Céline Baumann is a French landscape architect based in Basel, Switzerland. Her eponymous studio operates in the fields of urbanism, landscape architecture, and exhibition. She aims through an intersectional lens to create dynamic open spaces, informed by the interactive ecology between people and nature. This design work is complemented by a commitment to research, allowing her to explore the collective value of nature and its impact on individuals.
Baumann studied at the Akademie van Bouwkunst in Amsterdam and the Ecole du Paysage de Versailles, completing a master of landscape architecture cum laude in 2010. She is Future Architecture alumna, Akademie Solitude fellow, and recipient of the youth awards from the International Federation of Landscape Architect Europe. Her work has been presented in institutions including the Oslo Architecture Triennale, Royal Academy of Arts in London, ETH faculty of architecture in Zürich, Swedish University of Agricultural Science in Alnarp and the Museum of Architecture and Design of Ljubljana.
“Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.” (Milkweed)
Source: https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass
