The ‘Ecological Futures’ Competition: Visualising Sustainability at the St Andrews Botanic Garden

Launched in conjunction with the St Andrews Prize for the Environment and as part of Sustainability Week (27 October–1 November), this competition welcomes ideas for imaginative and ambitious curatorial projects which help to highlight the value of the arts in leading the formation of meaningful responses to the ecological crisis.

Over the past few years, the St Andrews Botanic Garden has become renowned as a leading example of how botanical gardens might be transformed in response to the urgency of contemporary demands for social and environmental justice. Not least, in January 2024, the institution decommissioned the last of its greenhouses—a landmark decision which has saved 98% of its energy consumption, or more than 300 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. This ambitious transition has been supported by a vibrant and innovative cultural programme that has engaged both local and international artists, and has featured a wealth of commissions, residencies, exhibitions, workshops, and talks. In this way, the garden has established its reputation as an important centre for creative interventions with climate change, bolstering the rising prominence of ecology as a theme in artistic discourses across the globe.

Nonetheless, there continues to be a widespread perception of the arts as being of little value or relevance to efforts to combat climate change. The prevalence of this view is clearly demonstrated, for example, by the persistent sidelining of representatives of the arts at major conferences on the subject, such as the United Nations’ Climate Change Conferences (COP). Instead, politicians, scientists, and policymakers are by and large left to occupy the spotlight at these occasions, with exhibitions taking place merely as satellite or peripheral events. The ‘Ecological Futures’ competition aims to challenge this bias by highlighting ways in which the arts might galvanise a cultural transformation centred on sustainability, thereby addressing the ecological crisis holistically and at its core.

Although we encourage applicants to think outside the box, we particularly welcome ideas that explore how the arts can help us to critically reflect on the concept and role of the botanical garden, in support of the formation of more socially and environmentally just futures. Such proposals might be inspired by the St Andrews Botanic Garden’s current flagship projects:

• Plants in the Garden. The garden is home to over 4,500 databased plants and many more native and naturalised species besides. How can artistic projects support practices of more-than-human care, and why is this important today?
• The Tangled Bank. This project is part of our long-term commitment to monitoring plants on the move. In what ways can creative frameworks enable us to better understand how plant mobilities parallel or complicate our understandings of identity, belonging, and migration?
• Widening Access. This programme makes sure that everyone can participate in the garden. How might artistic projects support social inclusion?
• Herbarium Holobiont. The garden’s herbarium holds a treasure trove of biodiversity records which have been collected since the 19^th How might we engage with this historical documentation in innovative ways to address contemporary issues?
• Designed Ecology. Human actions are causing profound and irreparable habitat fragmentation and ecological disturbance. How can the arts provide us with pathways out of the Anthropocene and towards alternatives, for example the Biocene?

Applications will be judged by a panel of three curators, art historians, and botanists with three prizes awarded, all of which have been generously funded by the School of Art History: £250 for first place and £100 for two runners up. We hope this project will help to inspire further collaborations between the School of Art History and the St Andrews Botanic Garden.

This initiative builds upon a recent surge in artworks, exhibitions, and publications which have drawn attention to the value of creative engagements with botany to supporting ecological action. Not least, Precious Okoyomon’s To See the Earth before the End of the World, which was installed at the 2022 Venice Biennale, explored the entanglements of slavery, racialisation, and diaspora with nature through an installation featuring a dense web of sugar cane and kudzu vine. Comparably, The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism, and the Cosmic Tree, which took place at the Camden Arts Centre, London in 2021, brought together works by over sixty artists to reveal the ongoing significance of the vegetal kingdom to human life, consciousness, and spirituality. Likewise, Olivia Laing’s recent bestseller The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise analyses works by artists including William Morris and Derek Jarman to explore the garden’s significance as a place of rebellion and communal dreams, through which new modes of living can be formulated that could prove vital in addressing climate change.

Applications should not exceed 500 words and should consist of a title and project outline, but additional images or diagrams are also welcome. Please email your proposal as a Word document to Dr Edward Christie (esc21@st-andrews.ac.uk) in advance of the deadline on November 15th, 5pm with ‘Application for “Ecological Futures” Competition’ as the Subject Line.

Photo Credit: James Robertson. Copyright and courtesy of the artists and James Robertson