Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi play a major role in 'feeding' plants the nutrients they need to grow. This event provides a microscopic view of what is feeding all the plants around us; making these seemingly invisible networks visible.
As part of Open Cambridge, this illustrated talk explores how the subterranean world is inspiring the artwork being developed by Lilah Fowler for the new community centre at the Meadows in Arbury/King’s Hedges.
Speakers include Jen McGaley, a plant scientist at Cambridge University, artist Lilah Fowler and artist & poet Alec Finlay, who will be joined by Resonance-Cambridge curator Clare Phillips. The event will be chaired by the New Hall Art Collection Assistant Curator Naomi Polonsky. Please join us for a lively discussion on mycological science, lab processes and the new artwork for the Meadows.
Alec Finlay is currently working on ‘The Sun Spoke’, a series of commissions for the new homes being built by the Cambridge Investment Partnership.
Root samples are being gathered by community groups from sites across Arbury and King’s Hedges. The samples will be taken to the Crop Science Centre, Cambridge University, where they will be stained with a dye and imaged under the microscope to produce micrographs of mycorrhizal fungal structures within the plant roots.
In conjunction with the illustrated talk will be a feature display on the hoardings at the Meadows of the locally gathered mycorrhizal images, which will be available online at http://resonance-cambridge.co.uk/throughout Open Cambridge.
Meadows is part of Resonance-Cambridge, the public art programme commissioned by Cambridge Investment Partnership. An online display of the images will be available on the Resonance-Cambridge website during the Open Cambridge Festival. For further information visit: http://resonance-cambridge.co.uk/developments/meadows/
