Co-Sponsored by the UIS Visual Arts Gallery

Artists Wendy DesChene and Jeff Schmuki will present a lecture about their work, which combines tactical media and public space to promote critical thinking and political action on environmental issues. They operate under the guise of PlantBot Genetics Inc., a parody of Big Agricultural Firms who skillfully manipulate current food production and distribution systems. PlantBot Genetics creates installations, interventions, and collaborations that combine activism, research, and social space fostering discussion and ecological awareness. By imitating actual corporate practice, they underscore the potential consequences of the global corporatization of agriculture, the natural environment, and public space.

PlantBot Genetics will highlight how programming and exhibitions directly link to the community, and how rigorous yet poetic projects are often designed to include the local citizenry and continue long after their departure. They will share how easy and rewarding it is to go off grid, to recycle and refashion, and to encourage social responsibility and civic engagement.