Reading by osmosis

de Semâ Bekirović, Michael Marder

Reading by Osmosis. Nature Interprets Man' shows works of art that are not made by human hands: an overgrown fence, an underwater video and a battered disco ball. The makers? Ivy, an octopus and time. If we acknowledge that animals and plants, too, can 'read' the world and interpret and (artistically) transform it, is the traditional opposition between culture and nature still tenable?0Sema Bekirovic does not identify with the image of artists as lonely geniuses. Rather, she places little value on her own contribution to ?her? work and shares her authorship with coots, warmth or light. Reading by Osmosis is the provisional high point of this process. As a rule, the intention and the autonomy of a maker are inextricably linked to their artistry. Reading by Osmosis raises the question of whether making art is a process as unintentional and plantlife-like as, for example, osmosis. The book includes the essay 'On Art as Planetary Metabolism', in which philosopher Michael Marder expounds his theory about the artist as a plant (and vice versa) in a surprising way.