As part of the 42nd Split Salon, which this year is held under the umbrella theme “Regeneration,” on Thursday at 7:00 PM, authors Ivana Papić and Gaja Pegan Nahtigal (Krater/Trajna collective) will hold a lecture “Invasive* Plants as Agents of Regeneration – Creative Practices for Local Communities” about local practices with feral plants such as Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) and Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica) using examples from artistic practice, the Krater production space, and the “Notweed Paper” brand.
*The authors use the term “invasive plants” for broader audience comprehension, but in their work, they propose the new term “feral plants” because it more accurately explains the political and economic processes these plants have undergone to be now considered invasive.
The lecture will be held in Croatian and English. Admission is free.
Co-author of the lecture: Gaja Mežnarić Osole (Krater/Trajna collective)
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Ivana Papić (b. 1987.) is a multimedia artist from Split, Croatia, who lives and works in Berlin. She earned a Master's degree in Restoration from UMAS in 2011, and in 2022, she completed a Master's program at the Institute Art in Context at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Using photography, video, sound, and objects, Papić creates layered, poetic installations designed to encourage audience interaction. Since 2021, her artistic research has focused on invasive plants, with a particular emphasis on the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima). Through her ongoing project »Wild Walnut,« Papić examines the contemporary meaning of identity and belonging, as well as the complex interrelationships between humans, nature, and technology. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in Croatia, Serbia, Germany, and Peru. In 2023, she received the main award at the 21st Festival of Firsts in Zagreb on the theme »(In)visible Women,« and in 2024, she was awarded the Culture Moves Europe mobility grant from the Goethe-Institut for an artistic residency at Krater in Ljubljana.
Under the leadership of designers and architects Gaja Mežnarić Osole, Andrej Koruza, and Danica Sretenović, 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗻𝗮 is a Slovenian cultural association dedicated to developing and establishing eco-social approaches in the management and protection of urban nature facing climate change and biodiversity crisis. Trajna is a pioneer of innovative strategies for managing invasive species, launched the »Notweed paper« brand from the Japanese knotweed plant, and in 2020, started the Krater creative laboratory in Ljubljana, with the goal of restoring and maintaining a pioneering ecosystem on a 18,000 m2 abandoned construction site. Within Krater, Trajna focuses on projects that intertwine regenerative material cultures, critical spatial and cultural practices, commons-based economies, and urgent pedagogical work. To this end, the broader Krater collective is also involved, which includes microbiologist Primož Turnšek, ecologist Sebastjan Kovač, designer Gaja Pegan Nahtigal, designer Rok Oblak, and the diverse community on-site. In 2022, Krater was a finalist for the New European Bauhaus Award, and in 2023, it received the prestigious Plečnik Award for Public Space.
https://trajna.com/project/krater/
Gaja Pegan Nahtigal (b. 1996) is a transdisciplinary designer, educator, and forager from Ljubljana, Slovenia. She draws inspiration from the natural world, its growth and decay, and from resilient weeds and urban, spontaneous ecosystems. During her studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven, she completed a one-year internship (2021-2022) with Krater Collective and has been collaborating with them ever since.
