In The Radical Gardener, acclaimed filmmaker Hermann Vaske examines what “radical” means in an age where art and advertising have become hard to distinguish.

Radicalism is rarely associated with gardening. When we use the word “radical”, we usually think of rapid transformation. Gardening, on the other hand, is a slow process, built on patience and careful attention to detail. But in a world where the instant exchange of money and information relentlessly transforms our environment, where art and advertising have become indistinguishable, is there something radical about slowing things down? In today’s art world, is it radical to turn gardening into an artistic practice?

These are the questions that acclaimed filmmaker Hermann Vaske sets out to answer in The Radical Gardener. Produced in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis when bankers and politicians were talking about radical cutbacks and radical solutions, Vaske draws on his background in advertising and the creative industries to explore how the lines between art and the world of sales and marketing have been blurred. We’re guided through this journey by Malcolm McLaren, the legendary British artist, fashion designer and musician, who is often regarded as the founder of Punk. McLaren examines the history of radical art, which aimed to transform the world, and how, when art and advertising began to merge in the Pop Art movement, Punk was born to bring this radical spirit to music.

Damien Hirst is one of the artists whose astonishing commercial success has blurred the distinction between art and advertising.

The Radical Gardener features contributions from high-profile figures in the worlds of art and advertising, including superstar artist Jeff Koons. Oliviero Toscani, the pioneer of provocative advertising, explains why radical advertising would not exist without art. With such figures having made fortunes out of mixing art and advertising, Vaske considers whether art or advertising can still be radical today. To this end, he looks at provocative advertising campaigns that aim to encourage people not to buy things, and speaks with Fritz Haeg, a Californian artist who tries to help us break with our age of fast art, fast lifestyles and fast consumption. Haeg places plants where we don’t expect them, using gardening to force us to radically re-evaluate our environments. Gardening provides a way of engaging with a slower pace of life, and establishes the priority of a new radical art movement: showing us how we can break with the over-consumption that’s exhausting us and our planet.

The channel premiere of The Radical Gardener is at 10pm on Friday 26 January.