January 11 – February 9, 2025
Plantronics: Presented by PlantBot Genetics
Curated by Jon Vogt
Artist Talk / Closing Reception:
3:00 PM, Sunday, February 9, 2025
UGA Digital Printmaking Student Wheat Paste Mural Collaboration
Week of February 10-17, 2025
ATHICA’s early Winter 2025 exhibition Plantronics presents the work of the collaborative conceptual environmental science artists Wendy DesChene and Jeff Schmuki, operating as PlantBot Genetics Inc., a parody of Big Agricultural Firms that skillfully manipulate current food production and distribution systems. PlantBot Genetics explores the lack of transparency and corporate “grafting” of food production and distribution by releasing humorous next-generation, robot-plant hybrids to disarm participants and prompt critical discussion on the environmental costs of intensive agricultural practices. The exhibition features animatronic plant sculptures, video, and a UGA digital printmaking student wheat paste mural collaboration, facilitated by curator Jon Vogt. The art students will print the large format images of the natural world that PlantBot Genetics has developed in their field work and residencies and install them using wheat paste mural techniques in the ATHICA gallery.
PlantBot Genetics combines tactical media and public space to promote critical thinking and political action on environmental issues.
“By imitating corporate practices, we underscore the potential consequences of the global corporatization of agriculture, the natural environment, and public space. We seek to energize a place by providing a platform for interaction and engagement. PlantBot Programming is directly linked to the community; humorous yet informative projects often include the local citizenry and continue long after our departure. Ecological literacy, Robotics, and Community Action shapes the present and will determine the future. We share how easy and rewarding it is to go off-grid, recycle and retool, reduce our carbon footprint, and become more self-reliant. We encourage social responsibility and civic engagement. Whether a street, museum, or gallery-based event, our goal is to connect the public to environmental concerns and inspire audiences in an entertaining yet informative way.” — PlantBot Genetics, January 2025
The exhibition results from ATHICA’s Annual Call for Entries, which provides opportunities for individual artists to exhibit their work at ATHICA and its satellite location, ATHICA@Ciné. Selected by the ATHICA Exhibitions Committee with additional curation by Exhibition Committee Chair Jon Vogt.
More About the Artists
Wendy DesChene (Canada) and Jeff Schmuki (USA) established PlantBot Genetics in 2008, leveraging their deep-rooted connections to the land. Wendy, with her indigenous Métis background, immersed herself in the off-grid life of Ontario’s dense forest. At the same time, Jeff’s upbringing in the Sonoran Desert shaped his understanding of fragile ecosystems and scarce resources. Through the fusion of activism, research, and social space, PlantBot Genetics creates installations and collaborations that promote ecological awareness, highlighting the vital connection between the natural world and individual action. Their work champions simple, sustainable changes with lasting impact.
They have exhibited their art at prestigious institutions like the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Pulitzer Foundation, and the Goethe Institute. Notable recent exhibitions include “180,000+” at the University of Illinois-Springfield, where they were honored with the Engaged Citizenship Common Experience Speaker Award, as well as “RoBotany” at Keene State College’s Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery in New Hampshire and “Art + Science: Mothology in the Age of Social Distancing” at the Richard F. Brush Gallery at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. The duo has been invited to over 25 esteemed residency programs at national and international art centers, including the McColl Center for Art and Science, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the American Academy in Rome. Currently, Wendy is an Endowed Professor of Art at Auburn University and Jeff is a Full Professor of Art at Georgia Southern University.
Websites
PlantBot Genetics www.monsantra.com and www.plantbotgenetics.com
Wendy Deschene www.wendydeschene.ca
Jeff Schmuki www.jeffschmuki.com
Instagram
PlantBot Genetics @plantbot_genetics
Wendy Deschene @wendydeschene
CV: PlantBot CV_2022
About the Curator
Jon Vogt is the Art Studio Manager at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia, where he oversees studio operations, teaches, and mentors students. He also serves as the Board President and Chair of Exhibitions at ATHICA, where he plays an instrumental role in curating contemporary art exhibitions. A local artist and multi-instrumentalist, Jon is actively engaged in the Athens arts scene, contributing through both solo and collaborative visual and musical projects.
Plantronics is sponsored in part by The James E. and Betty J. Huffer Foundation, The Georgia Council for the Arts, and The National Endowment for the Arts.
Press Release: https://mailchi.mp/athica/january-2025