Edible East

    Creative dialogue about the future of food in the East of England

    Edible East is an ambitious new venture which will explore the future of food in Norfolk through art, science and horticulture. Edible East will promote dialogue on the following issues:

    • current food insecurities and future risks
    • inequalities of health and opportunity
    • the environmental consequencies of current food systems
    • the links between diet and preventable disease/health
    • recent science regarding nutrition and our gut microbes
    • how to integrate creative opportunities/high-quality culture, science and food growing

     

    An art-science trail in Norwich in 2021

    Aims

    The trail will:

    • bring culture, science and fun to the city
    • promote creative dialogue about future food informed by science
    • lead the public around the city to the intriguing installations
    • gather and tell diverse stories of food which will be incorporated into the trail
    • raise interest in the ongoing opportunities of the Edible East project
    • site twenty-first century food science within historic context and architecture

     

    Timing

    The trail will launch on the on 13th July 2021 and continue for different lengths of time at different locations. The timing will link with:

    • the 'Dippy Tour' of the dinosaur skeleton from the Natural History Museum
    • Edible England themed Heritage Open Days
    • Norwich Science Festival 2021

    Locations

    The trail will be lead the public around the city, artwork will be sited in a variety of locations such as:

    • alcoves/niches of the Historic Churches of Norwich, their churchyards and railings. The artwork can remain here until March 2021
    • empty retail units, the artwork could stay in these locations until they are rented out, it could be refreshed with new content evary few months.
    • sites around Norwich Cathedral, to be confirmed
    • Strangers' Hall, a street-facing window
    • Museum of Norwich, Bridewell, a street-facing window
    • Norwich Castle Museum, gates

    Content

    The trail will feature:

    • the work of local artists, linked to the science of a sustainable future of healthy food, which will be produced in a sustainable way
    • mini container food gardens
    • work co-created with the public, including young carers, refugees and British Sign Language users

    Signage

    Weatherproof frames will display:

    • interpretive signs explaining the scientific links
    • a map of the trail
    • information about the art and the artist
    • opportunities available for involvement with science/cultural/educational organisations and community food-growing projects such as Norwich FarmShare
    • links to a new Edible East website

    Events

    Accompanying events will:

    Drawings and models by Chris Jackson


    Creating an edible landscape

    Edible East will co-create an edible landscape of community-led forest food gardens

     

    The layers of a forest food garden/agroforest.

     

    Photography Graham Burnett, Wikipedia Commons

    Images above by Jennie Pedley

    Edible East Team

    Edible East Team

    • Jennie Pedley - artist/NHS health professional, formerly artist in residence at Norwich Research Park's Quadram Institute
    • Chris Jackson - sculptor and experienced art technician
    • Dr Jenni Rant - art/science project manager of the education charity Science Art and Writing (SAW)
    • Nik Thomson - horticulturalist/educaltionalist/garden designer (previously of Kew Gardens)
    • Hilary Thomson - of the Ministry of Imagination, creative facilitator and lead on narrative
    • Jean St Clair - British Sign Language Creative Consultant

    Partners

    Image by Jennie Pedley made with students in Haringey, exploring the origins of food

    Funding

    We have funding on the way from Norfolk County Council, Clarion Futures and futher news will be announced in May 2021.


    Images above by Chris Jackson and Jennie Pedley

    Spaces for exchange & dialogue

    Setting the future of food in the context of the past, initial ideas by Chris Jackson

    Models by Chris Jackson

    Previous work by some of the artists involved

    Images above, left to right by Tara Sampy, two by Genevieve Rudd, Kate Munro, two by Chris Jackson

    Images above left to right by Rachel Wright, Liz McGowan and Rach Anstey-Sanders. The last two are by Jennie Pedley with felt microbes by Rach Anstey-Sanders exploring the diet/gut microbial work of the Quadram Institute.

    Left to right above, two each from Jacques Nimki, Adrian Draigo, one by Chris Jackson

    Bowls and vertical forms by Keron Beattie, four paper works on the right by Natasha Day

    Images above, Christine Blackburn extreme left and right and Karen Whiterod's  eco plant olders in the centre

    Images above, left to right, Chris Jackson, three by Sophie Eade, final piece by Jennie Pedley

    Piloting a way of working together

    The first stage of Edible East will try out ways of working with artists/educators, horticulturalists, archeologists and scientists through online meetings to develop ideas for the first Edible East Art Science Trail and accompanying events. This will develop a network of artist/educators ready to engage the public with the future of food. There will be call-outs for further artists in the future.

    Supported by:

    Found images of past and future food structures

    Found images

    Themes for art/science sessions

    Artist/educator meetings will include the following topics:

    • sharing our work
    • artists working with the sustainable future of food
    • dole cupboards, stalls and other structures for the first trail
    • working with science
    • co-creating artwork with the public
    • facilitating dialogue
    • the history of agriculture
    • soil health and diversity
    • forest gardens and regenerative agriculture
    • microbes and human health, implications for a healthy diet
    • anti-microbial/biotic resistance
    • plant breeding at speed for plant/human health
    • crop diversity and seed banks

    Images courtesy of Chris jackson

    Norwich Edible East art science trail July 21- March 22


    - Sculptor Chris Jackson has prepared the first site for a sculpture at Hungate Art, he has fixed a sculpture support into the niche above the doorway so art can be fixed without damaging the beautiful listed building. All the wood he has used so far for his sculpture models and for these fixings has been retrieved out of skips.


    - John Innes Centre is inspiring local artists with the science of food security - date change for next meeting. The historic breeding of brassicas has led to so the production many different veg, the cauliflower is an unripe bud, if I remember rightly.

     

    - We have two retail units under discussion which we plan to use for art installations about forest gardens and microbiome gardens. These installations will use supporting structures that we are planning to use for another event, see below.

     

    - You can now follow news at #Edible East, @jenniepedley on Instagram/Facebook or here on my blog. There are resources available for artists involved on You Tube and Facebook and soon on google drive.

     

    Forest garden image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons, image on the right by Jennie Pedley


    'Edible England' Heritage Days

     

    - We are exploring the possibility of an Edible East Edible England four day festival/exhibition in Norwich to place the future of food in the context of the past. This will be an installation and public engagement activities to gather local stories and create dialogue. It could include a 3D, theatrical, wonderland display mixing art & horticulture.

    I  may be using some shadow theatre for the public to tell their own food growing/making stories.

     

     

    - We will draw on local stories of food, thanks to Sophie Cabot from Hungate Art for speaking to the artists today about food and archeology.


    - Gressenhall Museum shared fabulous resources on the history of food growing to inspire artists via a recorded conversation and some pdfs of searches of their databases. They started with a fabulous collection of seed packets/pockets and seed catalogues from local businesses.

     

    - Strangers Hall will follow with a recorded chat about their food stories.

     

     

     

    Community Forest Food Gardens
    - We are now planning the first of the community forest food gardens in Norwich. See picture explaining the layers of the forest garden.

     

     

    Jennie Pedley - Artist


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