A GLASGOW Times Streets Ahead project which brought neighbours together to grow their own potatoes has helped drive plans for a huge national celebration of food, music and science.
An Empty Gunny Bag Cannot Stand, by Aproxima Arts, laid the foundations for Dandelion, one of 10 major initiatives taking place around the UK in 2022 as part of innovation festival UNBOXED.
Angus Farquhar, of Aproxima Arts, joined fellow team members at the old Pump House in Govan’s Dry Dock to announce the plans, which will culminate in hundreds of harvest festivals across Scotland next year.
There will also be a six-month long series of events and installations running April to September , combining food growing, music, cooking and public art in partnership with arts and community growing organisations across the country.
Inspired by the global ‘grow-your-own’ movement and a surge in home-growing during lockdown, Dandelion aims to make growing your own food as easy and accessible as possible to people of all ages, as well as to audiences online and around the world through films and digital activities.
Included in the programme are ‘unexpected gardens’ – one of which will appear at the old Pump House in Govan - and ‘Cubes of Perpetual Light’, miniature vertical farms created to foster accelerated growing by combining design craft, traditional horticultural expertise, and technological innovation.
The cubes will appear in the Unexpected Gardens and other locations across the country, which will bloom with produce, events and activities for people of all ages.
There are also plans to stage a music festival in Glasgow in June.
Creative Director of Dandelion Angus came up with the idea for An Empty Gunny Bag Cannot Stand in Kelvindale during lockdown.
Encouraging people to grow potatoes in ‘gunny bags’ on their doorsteps, it brought neighbours together and culminated in a fantastic harvest event, featuring music and performance. It was supported by our Streets Ahead campaign, run in partnership with Glasgow City Council, City Building and City Charitable Trust.
READ MORE: The Glasgow potato project bringing people together
He said: “One of the real pleasures of working with the Dandelion Collective has been the chance to work collaboratively as a team that brings together musicians, scientists, artists, makers, performers and technologists to create something truly worthwhile in a period of deep collective insecurity.
“Working with Scotland’s Rural College and the James Hutton Institute has brought scientific rigour to bear on lively artistic ideas and generated a fresh way of thinking that we believe will lead to new developments in the fields of community growing and climate-responsive art practice.”
He added: “Dandelion represents both urban and rural participation and aims through the simple pleasure of growing and sharing good food and new music, to re-establish Harvest as a significant annual festival for everyone, led by the next generation of creative practitioners.”
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