Wassailing the Microbial Ecology | Simon Pope et al
The Halstow Wassail film | Bevis Bowden
Ceramics | Abigail North
Cidermaking | Grays Devon Cider
Songs | Jim Causley
Live food | Kaye Winwood
Photography | Robert Darch
Book, textworks & posters | Simon Pope
Live music | Jim Causley & Bill Murray
Colloquium | Exeter Food network
Museum display | RAMM
Blog | Simon Pope
Microbial analysis | Dan Bebber & Ben Temperton
Video diaries | Simon Pope
Human and microbial socialities | Simon Pope
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
HERE’S TO THEE is a project by artist Simon Pope, in collaboration with anthropologist Professor Harry G. West and the Centre for Rural Policy Research at the University of Exeter. This project explores the microbiopolitics, microbiosocialities and more-than-human social worlds of cider-making through wassailing and other forms of collective artistic work.
Other artists and researchers joined us to produce a range of things, including songs, ceramics, films and genomic data. Arts & Culture at the University of Exeter and The Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) in Exeter, (Devon, England) commissioned this project, which aims to generate a lively ferment of ideas, connections, and new work within the university and beyond. Additional funding support by Arts Council England....
THE COMMISSION
This project was developed during 2020-22 with Professor Harry G. West at the Centre for Rural Policy Research at the University of Exeter and Exeter Food, and commissioned by Sarah Campbell, Assistant Director of Arts & Culture at the University of Exeter and Lara Goodband, Curator of Contemporary at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) in Exeter, (UK) with Grays Devon Cider as our project partners. This is the second stage of a project that began in 2019 with support from Dr. Sue Ruddick at the University of Toronto, and funding by the Social Science & Humanities Research Council in Canada, and Arts Council England. You can see documentation of the project's previous phase here.HERE’S TO THEE involved experimenting with the ways in which people and microbes come together through cider-making. It takes the conventions of wassailing as its starting point to explore human-nonhuman relationships through a joyful, raucous, popular materialism.
Further information can be found at the Exeter Arts & Culture website at artsandcultureexeter.co.uk.
THE COLLABORATIONS
Artists collaborating with me on HERE’S TO THEE are: Jim Causley, singer/songwriter; Abigail North, ceramic artist; Bill Murray, folk-singer; Robert Darch, photographer; Kaye Winwood, artist & gastronome; Bevis Bowden, film-maker; and Mariners Away, shanty crew.Together, we worked on seminars, performances, video diaries, printed matter, live events, folk songs and audio-recordings, ceramic vessels, a film, museum displays, and more.
Lara Goodband (Curator of Contemporary Art) was key to developing this project at The Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) in Exeter; and Thomas Cadbury Assistant Curator at RAMM has led the presentation of the project among the museum's collection.
Professor Harry G. West was my main academic interlocutor, helping to situate this project within the field of food studies, and in particular, in its relation to 'the terroir idea' – the conjunctions of product, people and place.
ABOUT SIMON POPE
I make collaborative, collective and participatory artworks that experiment with how people negotiate social relationships in a more-than-human world. This often takes the form of conversational events, and collaborative making and performances, among other things.More information about my work is available at simonpope.info §
No cookies, no tracking, on this site. All photographs on this site are by Robert Darch, unless otherwise stated. This project, and all artefacts produced through it, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.heres-to-thee.org.uk.