Last chance to see: Food Forever at Kew Gardens
Explore the fragile future of food through incredible art, MUST END SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBER
Release date: 18 August 2022
- Kew’s exciting 2022 summer programme finishes Sunday 18th September
- Shines a light on the fragile future of food
- Explores how the food choices we make impact the planet
- Large-scale art installations around the gardens
- Associate Supporter Quorn
Food Forever, a summer programme at Kew Gardens exploring the fragile future of food in our rapidly changing world, must end on Sunday 18 September.
Incorporating immersive installations from internationally acclaimed artists, Food Forever allows visitors to Kew Gardens to take a thought-provoking journey, exploring the impact which our day-to-day eating habits have on the world around us.
Each of the large-scale contemporary art installations which form a self-led trail around Kew’s UNESCO World Heritage Site highlights a different aspect of modern food consumption or production, including food sustainability, future foods, and the issue of food security. Exploring a variety of themes through these enthralling art works, visitors can reflect on what we can all do to combat climate change and biodiversity loss together.
Art installations
Danish artist Thomas Dambo’s brand-new sculptures have been enthralling visitors of all ages this summer outside the Temperate House. Constructed using reclaimed and recycled timber, Trolls (Matt and Helen) uses two giant mythological figures to tell a timely tale about humanity’s relationship with the natural world, particularly around the issue of food waste. These larger-than-life, characterful sculptures allow visitors to engage with themes of sustainability and the environment as they enjoy a ‘trash picnic’ from some of London’s most delicious dustbins.
Shooting at Hunger by Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey incorporates an oversized earthen bowl inset with a clay Asanka bowl, a traditional mortar used extensively in food preparation across Ghana. This installation, also featuring traditional songs from the Ghanaian Homowo festival, draws vital attention to the detrimental impact of climate change on both food and water security, and by extension on all life on earth. This piece also explores the cultural rituals of food preparation, and incorporates Attukwei Clottey’s signature Afrogallonism, repurposing Ghanaian jerry cans to highlight the pressing issue of plastic waste.
Leandro Erlich’s new work, The Breach (Labyrinth of Monoculture), highlights the tensions between the fast pace of modern life and the natural world. This innovative work utilizes mirrors to present visitors with four seemingly endless landscapes populated entirely with one species of crop, illustrating the complexities of monocultures which are used extensively in modern food production, as well the detrimental impact this can have upon biodiversity and food security, particularly when one of these cornerstone crops is compromised.
Innovative design duo Sharp & Sour also showcase their unique Future Food Stories, highlighting a selection of everyday food staples which are becoming increasingly insecure because of our changing planet. Working with Kew scientists, this series of interactive installations highlights crops and ingredients which could help to futureproof our diets for years to come. Quorn, a pioneer in alternative protein, is the Supporter of Future Food Stories.
Kew’s Science
Across their visit to Food Forever, visitors can also discover more about the ongoing work of Kew Science in helping to futureproof food for generations to come. As Kew’s recent State of the World's Plants and Fungi report highlights, 2 in 5 plants worldwide are estimated to be threatened with extinction, and at present we are overly dependent on only a few species for food, leaving the global population vulnerable to malnutrition and climate change. There are more than 7,000 known species of edible plants we could be eating, and crop diversity is key to feeding the world’s growing population. Research by Kew Scientists and partners all over the world has highlighted plant-based foods of the future including akkoub, the morama bean, and Coffea stenophylla, a delicious coffee species capable of growing in higher temperatures, rediscovered in the wild in 2018.
Paul Denton, Head of Visitor Programmes and Exhibitions, comments, “It’s been wonderful to see so many people engaging with Food Forever since it opened in May, and really taking the time to explore the variety of issues each of the art installations illustrates. Whether it’s through joining a troll picnic outside the Temperate House, examining the concept of monocultures at The Breach, looking at some Future Food Stories or soaking up the immersive experience of Shooting at Hunger, there really is something for everyone on offer as part of this unique and timely programme.”
Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex, also hosts its own food-inspired programme, Nourish, running until 18 September. Incorporating a series of stunning outdoor art installations across its spectacular gardens, Nourish invites visitors to discover more about fascinating Kew science research projects and savour their time in nature.
ENDS
For more information or images, please contact the Press Office at pr@kew.org.
Notes to Editors
About Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world-famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding collections and scientific expertise in plant and fungal diversity, conservation, and sustainable development in the UK and around the globe. Kew’s scientists and partners lead the way in the fight against biodiversity loss and finding nature-based solutions to the climate crisis, aided by five key scientific priorities outlined in Kew’s Science Strategy 2021-2025. Kew Gardens is also a major international and top London visitor attraction. Kew’s 132 hectares of historic, landscaped gardens, and Wakehurst, Kew’s Wild Botanic Garden and ‘living laboratory’, attract over 2.5 million visits every year. Kew Gardens was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and celebrated its 260th anniversary in 2019. Wakehurst is home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world and a safeguard against the disastrous effects of climate change and biodiversity loss. RBG Kew received approximately one third of its funding from Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils. Further funding needs to support RBG Kew’s vital scientific and educational work comes from donors, memberships and commercial activity including ticket sales. For tickets, please visit www.kew.org/kew-gardens/visit-kew-gardens/tickets. In the first six months since implementing a new accessibility scheme for those in receipt of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Legacy Benefits, Kew has welcomed 10,000 visitors with £1 tickets.