Material: Plants

Contemporary Art and Ecological Explorations (Production Workshop for Artists)

“Material: Plants”

Facilitator: Özge Horasan

Date: September 15 – 18, 2025

Time: 19:00 – 21:00

This workshop invites participants to explore the process of obtaining colors from plants within both a technical and conceptual framework. While learning methods of working with plant-based dyes, participants will also have the opportunity to question the relationship between material and subject, human and plant.

Working with plants is not only a technique but also a process of becoming. Colors emerge from the interaction of multiplicities such as plant–water–minerals–light. In this process, the human becomes not the one who dominates the material, but the one who learns to harmonize with it. Thus, the act of dyeing transforms into an experience of establishing a different kind of relationship with the world, beyond simply producing color.

This experience also carries a political dimension that challenges the nature–culture duality and opens up a non-anthropocentric perspective. What is political here are the values of slowness, acceptance of uncertainty, attunement, multiplicity, and collectivity. These values establish alternative ways of acting against today’s world centered on speed, control, and domination.

The workshop will begin with techniques of extracting dyes from plants and using them in various mediums; it will then trace the conceptual footprints of this process in contemporary thought, collectively reflecting on the artistic possibilities it unfolds.

Özge Horasan (1986, Ankara) is a multidisciplinary artist who works exclusively with natural materials. With a background in biology at both undergraduate and graduate levels, Özge approaches her relationship with materials in both an analytical and sensorial way. Her practice seeks to derive fundamental conceptual inquiries directly from matter itself, employing techniques that blur the boundaries between art and craft. Plant-based and mineral pigments, textiles, and earth are her primary materials. Since 2017, she has been living and working in Datça, engaging deeply with the geography she inhabits. Her first solo exhibition The World Looks at Itself Through Me was held in 2021 at Koli Art Space (Istanbul), and her second solo exhibition BARDO took place in 2024 at Eldem Art Space (Eskişehir).

* This workshop is designed for participants who either already work with “plants” in their practice or intend to initiate research and production in this field. Regular attendance is expected throughout the four-day program. Participation is free of charge and limited to 15 people.

* To join the program, please fill out the pre-registration form via the “Register” button on the page. Registration will open one week before the first session (September 8, 2025, 19:00) and the “Register” button will become accessible on this date. During pre-registration, applicants are expected to include a minimum 50-word statement in the message field, describing their production practices, their relationship with material, and their motivation for attending. Applications will be evaluated to ensure a balanced participant profile, and selected participants will receive event invitations via email.

Workshop Schedule

- Monday, September 15, 2025 / 19:00 – 21:00 / On Production and Material (Online)
The artist will share her own production practices and material explorations, introducing methods of obtaining dyes from plants and applying them to different materials (e.g., textile, paper).

- Tuesday, September 16, 2025 / 19:00 – 21:00 / Concepts and Production Process for Participants (Online)
After a general introduction to the materials participants are interested in, we will hold short presentations where they share their purposes for joining and their envisioned relationship with plant-based dyes.

- Wednesday, September 17, 2025 / 19:00 – 21:00 / Potentials of Material (Online)
We will explore the practice of using plants as a source of color through contemporary concepts such as multiplicity, becoming, relationality, and shared agency, focusing on the artistic possibilities they open.

- Thursday, September 18, 2025 / 19:00 – 21:00 / On Exhibition Practices (Online)
In this final session, we will come together around the works participants created—or intend to create—through their engagement with plant-based dyes, discussing exhibition practices and presentation techniques.