Urbanibalism

Sacrament for unwanted plants

On 28 June 2009 from 4.30 til 5.30 in the Jeruzalem church, a dawn service ‘Heilige Bonen’ was held as a sanctification for all the plants which are growing wildly, autonomously and unwantedly around the church — between the church fence and the public square which abuts the church garden. In the months leading up to the dawn service, 3 Amsterdam-based artists took these plants as the basis of a sacrament, an ode to the plants which involved a plant libretto sung by the church choir accompanied by organ, a poetic prayer for plants performed by the priest, and a bloodwine made from a maceration of all the church weeds drunk at the close of the dawn service.

Organised by Foam lab Amsterdam together with the artists Annet Blut, Christina della Giustina and Wietske Maas in co-operation with the Jeruzalem church, Amsterdam.

For description of service, choir audio and libretto: Sacrament for unwanted plants ‘twighlight service‘

For more images: Foam photo set Heilige Bonen

Contents of sacrament and song:

1
Stellaria media
Chickweed

2
Matricaria discoidea
Pineapple weed

3
Capsella bursa-pastoris
Shepherd’s-purse

4
Vicia cracca
Tufted Vetch

5
Urtica urens
Nettle

6
Cirsium vulgare
Roadside Thistle

7
Rumex acetosa
Sorrel

8
Lamium purpureum
Purple Deadnettle

9
Chenopodium album
Fat-Hen

10
Sinapis arvensis
Charlock

11
Plantago major
White-man’s foot

12
Urtica dioica
Stinging nettle

13
Geranium robertianum
Herb Robert

14
Persicaria maculosa
Redshank

15
Sambucus nigra
European elder

16
Rosa canina
Dog-rose

17
Polygonum lapathifolium
Pale smartweed

18
Galinsoga quadriradiata
Shaggy soldier

19
Chenopodium hybridum
Mapleleaf goosefoot

20
Sisymbrium officinale
Hedge mustard

21
Myosotis arvensis
Field forget-me-not

We usually excluded weeds and separated the wheat from the chaff. But that is not possible when the wheat is growing. Thus the purge, the sacralization of a given space, of a templum, of a garden, begins by the total and radical expulsion of all species. [...] The first one who, having enclosed a field or bit of land, decided to exclude everything there, was the true founder for the following historical era. Agriculture and culture have the same origin or the same foundation, a white spot that realizes a rupture of equilibrium, a clean spot constituted through expulsion. [...] The priest, that is to say, the one who makes the motion of expulsion, of cutting up of the templum. The farmer makes the same motion.
— Michel Serres, The Parasite