Nature

‘An equal co-creator’

Article

No. 41 • March 2026

We asked seven curators and directors to look ahead. Which themes and trends will shape the conversation in the coming years? And which artists are already showing where things are headed? Nanda Janssen is an independent curator and art critic. She recently curated the exhibitions I Hit You With a Flower, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, and A Deeper Shade of Soul, h3h biennial, Oosterhout. She is also a visual arts advisor for the Dutch Embassy in France.

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Text: Nanda Janssen

Artworks by and through nature are springing up like mushrooms. Merely depicting the natural world feels, to the swelling chorus of committed, green artists, like a drop in the ocean. And therefore they roll up their sleeves and create artworks that the earth benefits from – art that turns our human-centred worldview upside down. The insect hotels-de-luxe by Raphaël Emine (1986) welcome insects and windblown plant seeds that can take root here. The formal language of the detailed, tower-like ceramic structures is visibly inspired by flora and fauna. I recognise, for instance, (insect) eggs, cocoons and fungi. The most important part of these habitats remains hidden from the human eye. The interior consists of various variations on honeycomb structures. In all these cavities and crevices, all kinds of life forms can thrive. Raphaël Emine, a former scout, also consulted an entomologist in this process. The primary audience of these artworks is, after all, not human.

The bittern, skylark and other birds that are on the Red List in the United Kingdom take the central stage on the album Wake Up Calls. They collaborated with Cosmo Sheldrake (1989), who blended their melodies with his own. The sea and its inhabitants form the fragile orchestra that plays on Wild Wet World. The co-creation with non-human makers is not merely symbolic: half of the revenues go to nature conservation. In 2024, the creators of Song of the Cedars, including Sheldrake, submitted a request to the Ecuadorian copyright authority: recognise the Los Cedros forest as co-author. This cloud forest was already granted legal rights in 2021, but the request was rejected – a decision that has been appealed. If the forest were ever to be recognised as co-author, it would expand the definition of authorship beyond humans and set a precedent for nature rights in creative domains.

This is an article from See All This #41, spring 2026.