WHORETICULTURE: AN ARCHIVAL PRACTICE ON BOTANY AND SEXUALITY

Whoreticulture seeks a softer, wetter and more vegetal way of thinking about the formulation of archival practice. Whoreticulture is concerned with history, in so far as the sedimentation and entanglements between sexuality and ideas of nature, to better understand why the homophone “whoreticulture” evokes both resonance and discomfort. In this class, we will work together to collectively grow an archive. 

The whoreticulture archive is a working idea that hosts a collection of images, objects, texts, and phenomena that centers a queer and feminist practice to the formulation of nature, land and botany. Whoreticulture is concerned with:
  • A non-reproductivity driven model of feminized nature (nature as mother vs. nature as whore) 
  • A genealogy (historical and biological) of sexuality in horticulture 
  • The culturing of plants and the culturing of gender 
  • ​Modes of plant sexuality and relation-making outside of the domestic (Linnaean) idea of nature and ecology 
  • Non-male practices of land art, bio art, and landscape architecture 
  • An archival practice and aesthetics based on growth and care 
​
The focus of the class will be reading and researching together to tease out a possible rhizome for whoreticulture. There will be activities based around lectures, discussions and collective archive making.

INSTRUCTOR

Rita Rui Ting Wang
I am a landscape designer, artist and writer working in the intersection of history of science, bio-art, and landscape architecture. My practice deals with the ways in which landscape architecture has dealt with the question of "life", as well as its entanglement with the development of botany and horticulture. My professional experience includes teaching, researching, and practicing art and architecture, for faculty at the graduate school of design at Harvard University as well as beyond. As an artist and designer, my work has been exhibited at Esther Klein Gallery, the UABB Hong Kong Shenzhen Biennale, and the Cooper Hewitt Design Biennale. 
Image model: Cheryl Chong, Photo: Rita Rui Ting Wang 
Thursdays, 6-7:30 PM EST
​Online on Zoom
90 minute sessions, 5 weeks
August 1st-August 29th, 2024
$125 - $375 Tuition
Select scholarships and solidarity rate discounts available upon request.