Sound Roots. On Listening to the Botanical World

22^nd June 2025

Various Twickenham locations throughout the day including a pop up exhibition, performance and talk: 2.30 – 5.30pm, The Exchange, 75 London Rd, Twickenham TW1 1BE

Photo: Nick Ferguson. 2023. The River Crane

About

“It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds…” Charles Darwin. In:  Darwin, C., Padel, R., 2009. The Origin of Species and the Voyage of the Beagle, Reprint edition. ed. Vintage Classics. p. 913

This two-part public event explores the sounds of human and botanical interactions along the River Crane, West London. It is led by artists Nick Ferguson and Kate Carr and brought to you in collaboration with Richmond Art and Ideas Festival and Crane Valley Partnership.

Part one explores the soundscape of human interaction with riverbank plants along the River Crane. We will take notes, make recordings and photos and have conversations. We’ll be asking: What can sound contribute to our understandings of human/plant relations?

Duration: 1hr 30mins. Maximum participants: 12. Booking essential via the Richmond Art and Ideas Festival website

Part two is a pop-up programme of events hosted at The Exchange. The artists will serve seasonal drinks such as elderflower cordial made from plants gathered in the Crane Valley and perform a live soundscape using botanical material and field recordings taken over the course of the Spring. Also on display will be the recordings, images and notes taken in the morning session. The session will incorporate a talk by ethnobotanist Dr Sarah Edwards and finish with a chaired discussion on the theme of the botanical city.

Free. Open to all. Booking recommended.

The Artists

Nick Ferguson works with local organisations, exhibitions and the photo essay medium to study coexistence – human, natural and technological – in the landscape that lies beneath the routine operations of Heathrow Airport. www.nickferguson.co.uk

Kate Carr’s practice explores the encounters, textures and technologies entangled with field recording using movement, objects and experimental recording techniques. She creates intimate, delicate and hybrid sound worlds which centre the interactions and collectivity which generate soundscapes. https://www.gleamingsilverribbon.com/

Guest Speaker

Dr Sarah Edwards, author of The Ethnobotanical, is an ethnobotanist at the University of Oxford, where she teaches Ethnobiology and Biological Conservation and manages plant records for the Botanic Garden & Arboretum. She began her career at Kew Gardens, worked with First Nations communities in Australia, and has collaborated with artists on Richmond’s Cultural Reforesting programme.

Further reading/viewing and related projects