APRiCot Garden 2025: Research as Regenerative Practice.“In the absence of the invasive: Japanese Knotweed as Future Companion” ~ Performative reading in three acts, by Alaa Abu Asad
From “The dog chased its tail to bite it off”, 2018—an ongoing research on unwanted species, mainly known as invasive species. The reading in three acts traces the history of the Japanese knotweed plant (Fallopia japonica), actual policies, national campaigns of combat and control, social/economic/political effects, the conflation between natural and national history, and most importantly the language (whether verbal or visual) used when talking about the plant and other invasive species. It also imagines alternative ways of living with these species via raising questions about mass production ethics, exploitative forms of economy, and a common future.
