At Descanso Gardens\u2019 Boddy House, Journal of Therolinguistics invites visitors to consider how nonhuman beings communicate. Curated by Oscar Salguero, the expansive, color-coded exhibition spans multiple rooms and is on view March 21\u2013July 5, 2026, 10am\u20134pm daily. The term \u201ctherolinguistics\u201d was coined by Ursula K. Le Guin to describe the language of animals, and the show extends that inquiry to plants, water, stones, and soil through works by Aist\u0117 Ambrazevi\u010di\u016bt\u0117, Alice Bucknell, Audax M. Gawler and Pri Bertucci, Lucio Arese, Marianne Hoffmeister Castro, Nicole Brugger, and Paige Emery. Distinctive typography by Studio Darius Ou unifies the didactics, while immersive soundscapes help stitch the narrative flow from room to room.<\/p>\n
By the front entrance, the orange Department of Tecto<\/strong> features Chilean artist Marianne Hoffmeister Castro\u2019s Study of Beaverness<\/em>. Video screens show orange-dipped hands holding a chewed log and twigs, while orange signs and display tables present chips of wood and graphic readings of beaver toothmarks for viewers to puzzle out.<\/p>\n In the blue Department of Phono<\/strong>, Italian artist Lucio Arese shares video of European songbirds in their habitats, layering recordings of their calls with constellations plotted from their sound paths. Nearby, Paige Emery\u2019s vegetal collective, Plantae<\/em>, arranges arcs, tree stumps, and soil and roots marked by blue-painted natural pigments to explore water as a messenger. An ambient composition for the plants echoes the vibrations of water, soil, roots, air, and bacteria.<\/p>\n The library becomes the green Department of Glyph<\/strong>, where Swiss artist Nicole Brugger translates the sinuous traces of deadwood beetles into marks set on light green cards along the shelves, accompanied by enlarged images of the insects and their tunneled wood. Toward the window, Australia\u2019s Audax M. Gawler and Brazil\u2019s Pri Bertucci present glyphs derived from cross-cut Jagube vines, charting growth through changing climate and seasons. These are distilled into symbols printed on glass that hang like sun catchers, alongside banners of \u201ctree tongue\u201d poetry. Tables at the room\u2019s center invite visitors to stamp out their own arboreal verses using glyph stamps, ink pads, markers, and a dictionary of tree tongue phrases.<\/p>\n In the purple Department of Xeno<\/strong>, Alice Bucknell (United States and United Kingdom) imagines bat and datura flower pollination as video games, with participants steering through nocturnal landscapes via game controllers. Next door, the carmine Department of Chrono<\/strong> teams Lithuanian investigator Aist\u0117 Ambrazevi\u010di\u016bt\u0117 with lichen collaborators Cladonia, Parmelina, and Ramelina. Under black light, day-glo models of lichen formations glow beside screens of highly magnified, technicolor images.<\/p>\n Journal of Therolinguistics is on view at the Boddy House, Descanso Gardens, March 21\u2013July 5, 2026, 10am\u20134pm daily. Entry to the Boddy House is included with general admission or membership. 1418 Descanso Drive, La Ca\u00f1ada Flintridge, CA 91011. descansogardens.org | (818) 949-4200. Curator: Oscar Salguero. Typography: Studio Darius Ou. Artists: Aist\u0117 Ambrazevi\u010di\u016bt\u0117, Lucio Arese, Pri Bertucci, Nicole Brugger, Alice Bucknell, Marianne Hoffmeister Castro, Paige Emery, Audax M. Gawler.<\/p>\n The exhibition rewards close looking and listening\u2014an invitation to attend to the signals shared by plants, animals, soil, and water across the Boddy House.<\/p>\nVisit details<\/h2>\n