Borrowed Verticality
In this presentation, we are going to look at vines or climbing plants and their specific adaptive evolutionary strategies. Vines share their symbolism with the spiral, an optimistic evolutive force. In many traditions they represent the primordial link between Cosmos and Earth. Many vines are linked to altered states of consciousness : grapevine, ivy, hop, betel, Banisteriopsis caapi, …


Adopting a phytocentric perspective, we will embark on the journey of growth of climbing plants from their horizontal state in the shadow of the ground, to their encounter with a vertical element, and their growth until they reach the canopy, deploy their leaves and photosynthesise. We will look more closely into the tendril strategy, a haptic way of exploring, using a specialised organ for support and attachment, from circumnutation to coiling.
Externalising rigidity and verticality to other plants or structures is a common occurrence in the vegetal kingdom, and has many benefits. What can we learn from this evolutionary strategy? A true initiation to viriditas, the force of being green, and to plant metamorphosis, from horizontal to vertical and from the shadow of the ground to light as a source of energy.

Bio
Daisy Krebs is an artist working and living between Paris and London. They studied art at Goldsmiths University, landscape architecture at Edinburgh College of Art and horticulture in Paris. Their work is often concerned with space and genius loci, especially in the context of site-specific installations of different scales. Krebs often works in collaboration with friend entities, plants-as-kin, in a co-creative dynamic. Their work has been shown in Gaité Lyrique (2024, Paris), Triennale Art & Industry (2023, Dunkirk), Sherbet Green (2023, London), IMT Gallery (2023, London), Chisenhale studios (2022, London), Martell residency (2021, France).