Balance Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023. Sound Installation for Wild City Studios
I used a multi-speaker array, capturing electricity from a range of plant species in the garden to compose the soundscape. The plants were literally singing.
I was commissioned by urban garden company Wild City Studios to produce a soundtrack for their Balance Garden, a show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in June 2023. Built in support of the Centre for Mental Health, the garden shines a lights on inequalities in access to the mental health-boosting benefits of nature.
I use a device called PlantWave which picks up the electrical signals of living things and turns them into MIDI notes, which can then be used to produce music.
My piece drew attention to the mycelium network between plantlife and how we must remember that we co-exist with all living things. For The Balance Garden, I've recorded over ten species of plants and mushrooms that they have included and turned them into their own instrument, which will play across multiple speakers positioned around the garden - creating a natural harmony.
Congratulations to Wild City - the Balance Garden was awarded the ‘Silver Medal’ at this year’s show.
The Balance Garden will subsequently be moved to Markfield Park in Tottenham, where it can be enjoyed by all.
I plan to release a version of the sound installation at some point, watch this space.
We received a lot of press on the Garden, check out the Time Article below.
Listen to ‘Shiitake’
This is an excerpt from one of the plant species I recorded for the installation: Shiitake mushrooms
