Co-Creating Speculative Ecosystems

This book explores exotic–invasive plants through the lenses of art, science, and ecology.

Focusing on four plant species in the riparian landscapes of Galicia (Northern Spain), this book examines the ecological, conceptual, artistic, and material reality of exotic–invasive plants and the traces they leave behind after land management processes. Rather than treating these individuals as problems, this research approaches them as collaborators. Through artistic practice and scientific experimentation, vegetal biomass is transformed into new materials —pigments, paper —and artworks, opening unexpected paths for creation and reflection.

Blending theory with practice, this book brings together art experiences, ecological thinking, environmental humanities, and experimental processes to question the boundaries between disciplines, nature and culture, and human and non-human agency. Finally, the author proposes that art and science, working together, can help us perceive the complexity of ecosystems and rethink our role within them.