Manuela Infante

'Estado vegetal' [Vegetable state] is a polyphonic, branched, exuberant, repetitive, divisible, sessile monologue. The main character is a woman, who is not an individual, but rather a crowd, a swarm. This is no animal work / it is vegetable work. Based on the revolutionary thinking of philosophers such as Michael Marder and neurobiologists such as Stefano Mancuso, the performance seeks to explore new concepts, like plant intelligence, vegetable soul or plant communication, and their influence in creative processes. If we concede that plants have other ways of thinking, feeling and communicating, another form of consciousness and another notion of time, we might be able to assess our own notions of what it means to think, feel, be, communicate, transform and be conscious. 'Estado vegetal' revolves around an impossible dialogue between human beings and plants, a failed dialogue with nature that may well be our most innate monologue. 


MANUELA INFANTE is a Chilean playwright and theatre director, who worked as such at the theatre company Teatro do Chile between 2001 and 2016, presenting performances such as Prat, Juana, Narciso and Rey planta, among others. One should also highlight Fin, which premiered at the Módena Festival / What’s he building in there?, created in the scope of an artistic residency at The Watermill / On the beach, curated by Bob Wilson and premiered at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York / and Don’t feed the humans, which premiered at Hebbel am Uffer, Berlin. Her work has been presented in America, Europe and Asia. Estado Vegetal is her latest creation, and it has been presented in countries such as Singapore, Switzerland and South Korea.