It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green

Kyung Ran Huh

Title	It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green
Subtitle	An Artistic Exploration of Human Perceptions of Plants
Author	Kyung Ran Huh
Date	22.01.2024
Description	In ‘The Muppet Show’, Kermit the Frog walks through the forest singing ‘Bein’ Green’. While singing the ‘so many other ordinary things’ part of the song, Kermit looks around. He seems to empathise with the life of the surrounding plants: their greenness. How do we treat green beings? How might green beings think of themselves and their place in this world? Over twenty years ago, biology educators coined the term ‘plant blindness’ to describe people’s inability to recognise and even notice plants in their environment. They argued that plant blindness causes people to underestimate the aesthetic and ecological importance of plants, which are often viewed as inferior to, and certainly less interesting than, animals. This issue is still prevalent, as other biologists and educators have recently pointed to the continuing need to replace outdated narratives that render plants as passive organisms while integrating modern scientific discoveries on plant behaviours and sensory systems. It was also emphasised that if we are to develop solutions to the urgent environmental crisis, it is essential that we position plants at the centre of the sustainability debate, overcoming human insensitivity to plants. ‘It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green’ seeks to do just that by challenging and restructuring how we engage with plants.
Keywords	Artistic Research transdisziplinäres Projekt Contemporary Discourse plant Rights
Institutional affiliation	Departement Fine Arts (DFA.alle) Institute for Contemporary Art Research (DFA_IFCAR.alle)
Study path	Doktoratsprogramm
Genre / discipline	Transdiziplinarität