Plantarians (2017-2020) is a rumination on entangled relationships between humans and plants in urban areas. Divided into episodes, each follows individuals who cultivate, eat and accompany plants in celebration and grief. These everyday activities become strangely unfamiliar through unhurried attention to the moments of survival and resilience of plants between the cracks, on the peripheries of gardens and within human-made surroundings. The subtle shift in perspective elicits a sense of ambivalence, imagining how plants might endure, interact with and be vulnerable to the interruptions inflicted upon them. Plantarians poses a fundamental question around interdependent relations, both conflicting and intimate, and how we co-inhabit this planet with all living beings.

The exhibition at LUX features a collection of short films, photography and video installation that form the latest iteration of the Plantarians episodes, accompanied by a commissioned essay and related programmes.

The first iteration of Plantarians was screened at LUX in 2017. This time, the project returns to the site as an expansive body of work, marking the occasion of welcoming Heo’s films to the LUX Collection. Plantarians has been developed during Hospitalfield Summer Residency 2017; Summer Lodge Residency, Nottingham Trent University 2018; Jan van Eyck Academie Residency 2019-2020 and supported by The Elephant Trust and Arts Council Korea.