{"id":49903,"date":"2025-07-04T08:20:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T07:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/?p=49903"},"modified":"2025-07-04T08:25:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T07:25:49","slug":"seedscapes-at-wakehurst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/2025\/07\/04\/seedscapes-at-wakehurst\/","title":{"rendered":"Seedscapes at Wakehurst: Art, Science, and the Story of Seeds"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

This summer, Wakehurst, Kew\u2019s Royal Botanic Garden in Sussex, presents Seedscapes<\/strong>, an immersive arts programme inspired by the extraordinary science of seeds and the world-leading research happening every day at the Millennium Seed Bank, now in its 25th year.<\/p>

Since it was built at Wakehurst in the year 2000, the Millennium Seed Bank has safeguarded nearly 2.5 billion seeds from over 40,000 wild plant species<\/strong>. It is the world\u2019s largest wild plant seed conservation project, and a vital insurance policy in a time when almost half of the world\u2019s flowering plants are at risk of extinction.<\/p>

Seedscapes is Wakehurst\u2019s most ambitious arts programme yet<\/strong>, drawing on the expertise of Kew scientists and international artists to explore the powerful story of global seed conservation. From the towering trees of Coates Wood to vibrant meadows, the garden becomes a living gallery<\/strong>, with six artists that invite visitors to reflect on biodiversity, resilience, and our relationship with the natural world.<\/p>

Featuring new, bespoke commissioned artwork from both local and international artists that feature ceramic sculptures, woven materials, soundscapes and augmented reality art, Seedscapes will take visitors on a multi-sensory journey<\/strong> will highlight global seed conservation, biodiversity and resilience<\/strong>. The artists working with Wakehurst are Brighton-based Adam Ceramic, Kristina Pulejkova, Cristina Ochoa <\/strong>from Mexico, Shiraaz Ali<\/strong>, Australian James Tapscott, and Ed Carter.<\/strong> Kew Scientists<\/strong> have worked with the artists directly as consultants to bring the science to life.<\/p>

Ceramic artist Adam Ceramic will plant over 500 handcrafted clay seed sculptures in the meadows around the Millennium Seed Bank, each echoing species protected in the Seed Bank, including the prehistoric Wollemi Pine. Composer Ed Carter uses data from Chilean recalcitrant seeds – which can\u2019t easily be stored and are therefore at greater risk of extinction – to build an ethereal soundscape among Wakehurst\u2019s Chilean tree collection. Meanwhile, Kristina Pulejkova\u2019s sculptural pollinator hotels, inspired by tree seeds and embedded with augmented reality, will serve as both eye-catching summer havens for Wakehurst\u2019s pollinators population and a vital research tool for Kew scientists.<\/p>

From Mexican-Colombian artist Cristina Ochoa\u2019s giant Erythrina Americana seed sculpture inviting quiet contemplation on Mansion lawn, to Yorkshire-based Shiraaz Ali\u2019s vibrant artwork reimagining the Millennium Seed Bank\u2019s fa\u00e7ade, Seedscapes celebrates seeds not only as scientific specimens, but as vessels of culture, story and survival.<\/strong> This multi-sensory journey through sound, sculpture and light captures the urgency and beauty of global seed conservation today.<\/p>

Seedscapes is included with day entry to the gardens. More information on the website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>

\u00a0Images: Clockwise from top left: Visitors exploring Seeds in Clay by Adam Ceramic for Seedscapes, Jim Holden \u00a9 RBG Kew; Visitors walking past Unleashing the Vault by Shiraaz Ali for Seedscapes, Jim Holden \u00a9 RBG Kew; Visitors walking through Betula Loop by James Tapscott and Studio PTY for Seedscapes, Jim Holden \u00a9 RBG Kew; A visitor interacting with the AR feature on Seed Stories by Kristina Pulejkova for Seedscapes, Jim Holden \u00a9 RBG Kew; Cosmic Seed Basket by Cristina Ochoa for Seedscapes at Wakehurst, Jim Holden \u00a9 RBG Kew<\/em><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer, Wakehurst, Kew\u2019s Royal Botanic Garden in Sussex, presents Seedscapes, an immersive arts programme inspired by the extraordinary science of seeds and the world-leading research happening every day at the Millennium Seed Bank, now in its 25th year. Since it was built at Wakehurst in the year 2000, the Millennium Seed Bank has safeguarded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":49904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1208],"tags":[],"directory-category":[],"event_categories":[],"class_list":["post-49903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-culture"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-03 19:29:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49903"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49909,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49903\/revisions\/49909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49903"},{"taxonomy":"directory-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/directory-category?post=49903"},{"taxonomy":"event_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_categories?post=49903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}